#Fallen Order Fanfic

[hereforthefanficsandromance]

Fan Prize Story #3: Finding the Way Back Chapter I

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Chapter Summary

Cal doesn't return from a mission forcing you to venture out into the Kashyyyk jungle to rescue him and face your greatest fears. Rating: 18+ Words: 1.2K

This story was made for @angeldarkness95 ⋆ ˚｡⋆ ˚｡⋆ ˚｡⋆ ˚｡⋆ ˚｡⋆ ˚｡⋆ ˚｡⋆ ˚｡⋆ ˚｡⋆

The heat of the explosion forces sweat to bead along your forehead, dampening your neat hair. It was closer than you would have liked, but your reddened skin remains unburned. You smile at the flames engulfing the wretched Imperial base; it was an eyesore anyway. 

Something tugs at your mind, reminding you that this mission was a dual effort, bringing your attention to Cal. “That’s odd…” 

Fear consumes you, urging you to rush to aid Cal, but you push away the lies. You cannot believe such trivial feelings, only facts are reliable. Cal completed his portion of the mission, since the base blew up so spectacularly. He is on his way back to the ship, just like you. 

You shake your head and begin the journey back towards the Mantis. Cal must return from the opposite end of the base, where he completed his portion of the mission. Despite the tugging in your head, you keep your thoughts on getting back to the ship. Cal will meet you there. 

You speak aloud to your worry, hoping to rest the fear. “It’s probably nothing.” 

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It takes over half an hour to get back, even keeping your pace at a light jog. As you enter the loading door, Greez and Cere look up from their seats at the table. 

You flash them a victory smile and glance around your current housing, grateful to be away from the wildlife. “Mission complete! Did Cal beat me back?”

Cere raises her dark eyebrows. “Cal has not returned yet.” 

You shrug and sit on the bench seating in the middle of the craft, enjoying the downtime while Cal makes his way back. You suspect Cal’s return will take twice as long as yours, assuming he doesn’t get distracted. “I’m sure he’ll be here soon. BD probably ran off to scan something.” 

Cere joins you and sits at the opposite end. “I hope you’re right. He’s not late…yet.” 

You chuckle. “You know how Cal is, always getting distracted by something.” 

You pass the downtime with your feet resting on the center table, enjoying peace after exerting yourself all afternoon. Blowing up an Imperial base is easy enough, like taking clams from a Gungan. The bucketheads stand out against the greenery of the forest, making them easy to target. 

The difficulty was the dangerous fauna, which blends into the landscape, hiding from view, using the element of surprise as its chief advantage. You shudder at the thought of the multi legged creatures; the recent memory making your skin crawl. 

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You lower your feet, boots sounding on the grated floor as it becomes clear Cal is actually late. Cere makes multiple efforts to reach him on the comms, but radio static is the only response. You take up leaning against the loading door frame, surveying the edge of the forest for Cal’s unlikely return. 

Guilt creeps in, pondering if the tug in your mind had been a warning of Cal’s inevitable absence. You reject the notion, reminding yourself that you cannot trust in the Force anymore. It has failed you in your time of need, and you won’t be so foolish twice. Minutes drag by and you find it difficult to relax, despite your statuesque frame in the doorway. 

Cere joins you, worry etched on her forehead. “We still can’t reach Cal on the comms. Kashyyyk does an excellent job blocking our signals.” 

Greez’s voice rings out from the kitchen. “Kid, did you see anything out there?” 

You answer Greez too loud, nearing overly defensive. “No! I mean, Cal definitely completed his part of the mission, or the explosion wouldn’t have been so spectacular.” 

He raises two palms in a mock shrug. “How ‘bout the Force? You can feel each other through it, right?” 

Your face heats at the thought of feeling Cal under any circumstances, causing you to stutter your attempted response. 

Cere interrupts. “That’s not exactly how it works, Greez.” 

“Well, what do I know? I’m just the guy who takes care of all you Jedi. You could at least fill me in on how it works.” 

Cere joins Greez in the kitchen, attempting to explain the Force. You’d find comfort in their banter if icy dread wasn’t washing over you. Absent minded, you pull your favorite stylus out of your pocket and spin it to soothe the discomfort of worry. 

You wonder if you were wrong to ignore the tug, if you’re too late now. Eyes closing and breathing slowly through your nose, you push aside the endless array of outcomes. Your mind, a creature of habit, attempts to slip into meditation, but you don’t allow it. Only focusing on your breathing and keeping one foot in the present. 

You stare at the tree line, willing Cal’s appearance to put an end to the internal suffering in your mind. He doesn’t, and each second wears on you. 

What if he’s horribly injured, or worse, dead? Regret seeps in, knowing that you didn’t tell him the truth about your feelings. How he takes your breath away when he stands too close, or how your heart flutters when he cracks a joke in his low and husky voice. 

Finally, you succumb to the panic, moving into the ship to retrieve a supply bag, tossing your favored item into its depths. Cere and Greez perk up, watching you with interest. 

You spare them a glance as you move methodically to ensure the bag is well stocked. “I’m going to go look for him. He’s been gone too long.” 

Cere nods. “Stay safe out there. The Kashyyyk forest is dangerous. Keep your eyes up.” 

You press your lips together. “I’ve got this. I’ll bring back Cal in one piece.” 

She gives you a tight-lipped smile, standing to bid you goodbye. “May the Force be with you.” 

You don’t acknowledge the language and exit the ship. 

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As you enter the web of trees, your ears attune to the roar of life around you: chirping, screeches, and rustling from above. The noise puts you on high alert, each hair on your body standing on end. The heightened state forces you into paranoia; keeping a hand on your lightsaber and jumping at shadows, fearing the worst. Though it is not the perils of the jungle that terrify you, but the man awaiting your rescue. 

You had a lover, a normal life, years after the purge. He had meant everything to you, but it’s clear you did not hold equal value in his heart. 

Adrenaline courses through your veins at the memory and the dangerous terrain. You focus hard to calm your breathing, but the longer you go without meditation, the more difficult controlling your body and mind has become. 

You speak aloud in a low tone, trying to soothe yourself as one might soothe a child. “It’s not a big deal. Cal’s fine. Nothing happened to him.” 

Your mind takes the words and runs in a different direction, making you aware of the possibility that Cal is, in fact, luring you deep into the woods to betray you. If one man could betray your love and trust, why wouldn’t another? Perhaps it’s your fate to be cast aside for a richer opportunity, to feel the flame of love and burn in its heat. 

Your feelings for Cal are likely blinding you to his true nature. His good looks are a distraction; his muscular form, his flaming hair, his kind eyes. 

“No! Cal wouldn’t do that…I hope…” 

The image of his eyes crinkled as he laughs at your joke, flashes before your eyes. He wouldn’t, would he? You want to believe the best in him, but you grip your lightsaber hilt tight as you move through the jungle. 

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Next Chapter

[simpingwriter]

Cal Kestis x Kyra Yarmot

'Revenge and Redemption:

In the Name of Love'

Pt.2

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Heyyy, Happy May the Fourth to everyone reading this chapter today!

And yeahhhh... I know I said I would take it a bit slower with the second book. But tbh...with me, that's a good sign if i don't. Means I still like writing for these two braincells in a left over Styrofoam Cup – constantly bumping into each other, their only viable source of useable thoughts – and probably won't lose interest (please, great Gods of writer's block, have mercy with me boasting, i love my two fucked up dumbasses! 😭)

P.s: Totally not already a good quarter into Chapter 3...

Kyra meets the Grand Inquisitor for her Initiation. And ofc she immediately wants to fist fight and question authority once more–

Enjoy! :)

Word Count: approx. 3.200 Words

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When the next morning came, something you finally could be sure of again with being on a Planet – well, a moon – and not a stupid ship, Cal was there before Dr. Puloria, eyes starting to shine even brighter then they were already when he finally saw you looking back at him this time.

Four weeks of looking at your motionless, dead-like body, wondering if you would actually wake back up someday…you didn't want to imagine the loop of thoughts the poor boy went through each and every morning with no significant changes being reported by Dr. Puloria or the nurses that took care of you, except that your lacerations from the fall were at least healing.

The Doctor had arrived only a few minutes later, grimacing when she saw the time…did you really sleep for that long?

One could possibly be stupid enough to think that after a four week long karking coma you wouldn't need sleep for a good ass while, that you would wake up more rested than ever. But it was the entire opposite, waking up you felt like you just pulled an all nighter and then some. So it didn't surprise Cal at all when – without any warning from your side – you fell asleep on his explanation the Fort and the work that came from being an Inquisitor now, his voice the most calming thing to your ears after being surrounded by nothing but deafening silence.

He knew that you would listen to him rant any day, but yesterday was just...way too much for you. And once you had everything important of today behind you, you would probably fall asleep right on him again, but he wouldn't mind, especially if you literally fell asleep on him, he always wanted to know what it was like sharing a big bed with someone. His was so cold and empty...

He wouldn't mind even if you fell asleep during him talking about whatever came to mind for another whole week, because now could be sure he would see you again, day for day, week for week, no urgency pushing him to make the most of every second he had left with you…

The first thing Dr. Puloria did, as promised, was cut the thick layers of gauze off of your squeezed in wing. While it at least wasn't cold around it, something you hated – cold wings – it was very uncomfortable. Which became evident when the gauze was finally fully off, revealing a severely crinkled and depressed wing. Like freshly hatched…

"You can move it, don't worry about having to keep it that crumbled up, just be very careful and do not under any circumstance overstretch the membrane for at least another two weeks. The medical soldering is right about here…" 

To say it felt odd having someone else touch your wings than yourself was a plain understatement, but Cal had touched them before as well and it didn't feel so...intrusive, even before you officially began to share an emotional bond. You remember the day when you first let him feel the leathery membranes between the flexible yet hard wing bones, his touch feather light and anxious even though you told him multiple times that his human fingers wouldn't be able to harm them really that much.

Even then his touches already had a weirdly soothing effect on you, especially after your returning nightmares and night terrors…

Was this maybe foreshadowing your eventual bonding?

"Also, after your initiation hearing today is finished and you managed to settle in on the Base, I would really appreciate it if you could find the time to listen to a request of mine, but only if you're alright with that." The older woman threw hastily into the room as she looked for the holopad that held the release forms with your name prewritten on them. What request could she possibly mean?

"I think she means these Research Papers I had to interrupt her about yesterday. She was barely able to contain herself while she had to take your body's measurements for your own uniforms…" Cal sounded incredibly odd at the last sentence, partially swallowing some words he wished to say but then decided not to as he looked at the Doctor with an unreadable expression.

Did he not like seeing her touching you?

"I don't." Cal grumbles quietly, having become much more direct since the last time you really talked – that being on the Mantis after your eventful day on Tatooine – you had to realize as the woman you talked about got slightly but noticeably red at herself being mentioned, "I-I was given the direct Orders to take the measurements of your wings, tail and your feet as they very obviously deviate from the average measurements of any other Imperial Inquisitor." She stated in a rather matter of fact manner, but either way not managing all of it without a stutter at the beginning, clearing up at least some of it.

What it didn't clear up was her excitement, apparent request and the connection to the research papers though. So basically nothing...what a waste of time.

"What is your request then?"

She stops looking for the paper a moment, looking over her shoulder with an expression you could only sort as "embarrassed yet determined".

"Because I want to finish the medical research for the Kaluk, the work of my master and his colleagues…"

The…Kaluk?

All your life, in all these pages and books you read about your kind, your own species…not once had the name Kaluk even been mentioned. So why was she calling you that name?

"Kaluk? I never heard that name for my kind." "Because it was wiped from all history books that have been written recently…that would mean the entirety of the last 30 to 40 cycles. All older ones are either destroyed or in the Empire's care." They even wiped the real name of your people off the face of the Galaxy…they really took everything from them. From you. From everyone that once, a long time ago, listened to that name. It sounded nice...you wish you had known about it earlier.

"Why would they do such a thing?!" You ask back irritated, not at her obviously, but at the Republic once more, further deepening your new found hate for them. They really deserved what came upon them…

"Well, some Scholars, of the Sith of course in that case, came to a very simple yet awful conclusion about that: The conventional approach of naming certain things or a species made them look more...approachable, in the case of the Kaluk, actual living, breathing and intelligent sentient people, taking away their name also took away relatability, the human aspect you and your ancestors all show, some more and some less. That method turned them into mysterious and extinct creatures…"

She even knew about the different sub categories of your ki- the Kaluk…how broad were the research papers of these scholars? Were there only the medical papers left or was there even more to be read about…things you had never heard about yourself?

There must be so many things about you yourself you had never been made aware of, maybe because they didn't want you to know or even because they themselves – despite their huge resource pool available just for research projects alone – never went that deep into your actual Culture themselves. They only saw the profits to be gained on Rhothant and in the Kaluk…

Dr. Puloria stopped the conversation of that subject at that for now, seeing the same problem as Cal when you yourself went to grab his left hand to calm back down, feeling your body begin to tremble. He didn't waste any time to give you exactly what you needed, gently drawing messy circles across the rough skin and scales. It would take ages for you to find peace in this subject as well, maybe you'd even carry this deep dug grudge to your equally deep grave.

"I shouldn't have brought it up right now, my most sincere apologies. I-I...no- Here, please sign these and you're free to go until the next planned check up…" 

It was evident in her rushed words that your sudden change of mood at that piece of information made her feel uncomfortable, but mostly regretful. She knew the extinction of your kind must've been hard, though how should she have known that it troubled you that badly? Nodding at her nearly fumbled statement for the form, you take the holopad from her hands, immediately sensing the slight tremor in them.

Fear.

Now you could also faintly smell it...

She was afraid you would lash out from your increasingly bad mood.

"I'm not mad at you, Doctor." You simply state while signing with your last name, returning the holopad onto her cluttered desk when she didn't react at your attempt of giving it back to her. Your response probably startled her just a bit too much.

Cal's impatient pulling of your hand that had already been in his made it clear though that you had no time to idle your time, for example with making sure you didn't give her the same prey-like fear Greez once upon a time felt near you. Not that you knew of Humans ever having had actual problems regarding your pheromones distinctive to predators.

If anything, Humans were incredibly underdeveloped when it was about scents and pheromones of other species or even their own! They sometimes vaguely noticed them, but never in the obvious way, they were controlled by them subtly, without them ever truly realizing that it was Pheromones that made them act like this or like that.

And then there is Cal. You didn't know if he also didn't directly notices the pheromones…but it was obvious on him, though maybe only for you as his mate? To you, he was visible even with your eyes closed, he pretty was unmistakable to your sensitive smell with this almost overpowering sweetness and near aromatic waves of male pheromones coming from every pore. No cologne could challenge what he smelled like to you...like your personal heaven.

You loved the way they enveloped your senses, just like his hugs. They gave you this feeling of safety you never had before. And everytime you lost this feeling for too long, you already felt the madness and fear reaching their claws into your mind.

"I love you, Cal…" the words left your lips unexpectedly as he guided you down the halls of the new base, your new…home. It stopped him from his quick and wide steps, his golden eyes watching yours – and the emotions hidden within – closely as his mouth hung open ever so slightly before turning into an inviting smile, his left arm wrapped even tighter around your waist now. "I love you too, Dragonfly and always will." He sealed his renewed confession with a long kiss, lips burning up against yours before he parts from you once more with a heavy sigh. 

Right…you're both wasting time with your sentimental needs right now. And you would have enough time later on for all kinds of loving or intimate gestures, especially for all the times you missed out on that possibility with your unfortunate time-out.

"Don't worry, I am certain he will make the initiation quick. The Grand Inquisitor has been very busy in the last few days from what I have heard. After that, you will be given a room and you'll have some time to…let everything sink in. I know that I needed it, despite me having been prepared for everything…in the end i was grateful for the buffering time you're getting." He shook you two's interaction off for the sake of not becoming late – despite it being almost painful to disappoint both of you – going down a vague list of what would happen today, not once letting go of your side as you walked further, at least wanting to give you his physical touch as he knew thanks to your thoughtsthat you yearned for it badly. No more hiding…it almost made you want to jump at him instead of just kissing him.

After ten minutes of similar looking dark corridors and bridges – "You're gonna have to grow used to that..." – you stand in front of two impressive double doors. Not ceiling high but quite obviously different from the rest, letting it be known that behind these doors, something important lies. They made him restless though, his black and red gloves fixing his grip on your waist every few seconds before he finally got a grip on the situation and made both of your presences known by knocking loudly.

What gave him the reason to act so off?

"What might come…that's what." He answered as quiet as a whisper as the doors slid open with a hiss, granting the two of you access. The room was more like a hall. A throne room, but more useful, like of a military commander in the end. And for the first time in your life you were in the same room as eleven…twelve…alive Inquisitors. All breathing and staring you down quietly as they awaited their master to speak…

The Grand Inquisitor.

You had heard very few things of the Pau'an himself, unlike the many tales of people encountering Inquisitors – plus your own – had but you were always been aware that he apparently existed, commanding those below him. 

And now, he also sat while the others stood, on a big chair towards the far back of the middle. While the others were just staring at you, he tried to probe you with his gaze, you felt his attempts at going even further but blocked any of them with ease. From his perspective, it was probably just Cal and maybe – if you're lucky – Trilla who talked about your desire to join. The others either didn't know you or if they did…well, they would only see the Jedi Scum in you. Nothing else.

The only thing that held them back from trying to decapitate you was that they most likely have been informed about an "Initiation" today. That there was a Jed- Force Sensitive on Nur that switched sides.

You didn't even want to call yourself Jedi anymore, feeling grimy about that name and their religion after you heard what they helped the Republic with, even with their whole peace keeling agenda. All for some Kyber Crystals they couldn't even use like regular ones…the Crystals choose their Owner, never other way.

"Greeting, Grand Inquisitor!" Cal shouts loud enough to reach the ears of the grey older man, relief washing over him as you caught onto his body movements without his help and kneeled down alongside him. Praise the Connection you two had, once again.

"I brought you the girl who renounced her loyalty to the Jedi four weeks ago." He sounded pragmatic and logical in his choosing of words, a total difference to your Cal that usually lets his heart talk. You had known that he most likely had been put under special physical training to become an Inquisitor, but you didn't expect this of everything possible.

"Very well, Eleventh Brother, join the others."

What? You're supposed to talk for yourself? Alone, in front of them all!? Well that isn't going to end well, you can't control your mouth like Cal now apparently!

Cal, while he definitely heard your panicked thoughts, the begs for him to stay with you, couldn't stay any second longer than needed, giving you one last reassuring nod and squeeze on your shoulder before he did as he was told, standing back up and finding himself next to Trilla, who was wearing her helmet – making reading her emotions difficult...but not impossible if needed.

But she was probably going to be indifferent to whatever happened to you, your potential death due to your big mouth wouldn't mean the end of her world. 

Not that you would let yourself get killed that easily. If needed, you would fight them all to the ground and they would learn that sooner or later. At least once they also pulled you into physical training.

"Rise, Kyra Yarmot." You did, straightening your back on instinct, wincing at your neck brace protesting and pushing against said sensitive neck. But you had to come through with this, this is all it took to be at Cal's side. All it took…

"How come that we get two Jedis renouncing their loyalty in such a short span of time? Nonetheless two that very evidently know each other better?" Oh that sounds…like an accusation. 

Accusations never end well.

Okay, it's easy, Kyra, just tell them exactly what moved your decision, you have absolutely no reason to lie or to make things up, you got your reasons! "I found out about the Republic's dishonorable and dishonest deeds on Rhothant. I have been lied to all my life and…I…I can't no longer serve under their name, especially not the Jedi." He slowly nodded at your own explanation of the last events, before noticing something on your face it seems, just like Cere before him. It made him squint, deviating from his stiff posture when his head tilted in confusion. Unlike Cere, it did not anger him. It merely seemed to further fuel his intrigue.

"How come your exceptionally quick change of heart? Explain…"

Didn't you just tell him that, was this grey pebble hard of hearing? Deaf perhaps? You didn't want to talk anymore about it than needed!

What are you supposed to explain?! How they killed them by letting them work to total exhaustion? Abused them? Let everything important about their whole existence that made them who they were just vanish like that or how they lied to you about this For. All. These. Years?!

They bathed themselves in innocence while your people DIED for their insufferable greed!

'Kyra! Please! Calm down!'

Cal's thoughts passed you for a second, breaking the spell you put on your own mind as you heard yourself, speaking your thoughts out loud it seems, your voice not sounding like your own as you sounded more like a beast growling its threats than anything else.

But that reaction…it further looked like it pleased the Grand Inquisitor, as he intently watched your…eyes?

While your still injured body had to work with the sudden spur of buried emotions shooting back up, chest heaving and hot steam puffing out from your mouth with every heavy breath you took, the other Inquisitors' stares…changed. Even with their helmets on, you could feel them on you still yet not as harsh as before.

"Anger festers inside of you…but unlike with others, while your body doesn't fight it, it also can't take full influence over your actions, nor does it have a big effect on your appearance. Very interesting…so the old knowledge of the Kaluk hasn't been lying…"

Old knowledge? Does he also speak of research papers?

You're not given any time to think about his words as two Purge Troopers walked to your side, grabbing your upper arms tightly. Did they not know what kind of danger they just got themselves into just by approaching you? In this state of yours?

"Shall we bring her to the chamber now, Grand Inquisitor?" 

C-chamber? They must be speaking of…n-no! No! You're not letting them scramble and rewire your brain, you're working and thinking perfectly fine! You're here on your own free will and haven't been captured! 

Cal's eyes widened as he gasped in shock, but he knew too well that he wasn't allowed to intercept the Troopers either as they tried to drag you away from your current spot in the massive hall. His inner pain was deafening to you like a visible scream, he didn't know why this was happening either.

Putting emphasis on the word 'tried', the Purge Troopers struggling hopelessly as you used your still naked feet to your advantage, their sharp digging into the metal floor with worrying ease. It wasn't hard to escape their grasps fully a few seconds later, the sudden snapping back of your neck drawing an angry, deep shriek from your lips as you glared at them, silently daring them to try it a second time, opening your curled hands to show off your claws as a warning. "Kyra Yarmot, are you having second feelings now, of all times? Because I am sure the Inquisitors can help…choose…for you."

Like hell you were having second feelings, you're here on your own free will, you're not going to let them ruin your freedom like this, not when you're in arms length! You're not going to become mindless puppet, you're a soldier with thoughts, just like your ancestors were! They wouldn't want anything else from their possibly last surviving genes...

"Don't even think a second time about strapping me to your awful torture chair, if you have second thoughts about my loyalty, I will do the needed things to prove myself on other ways!" Otherwise you would give them a taste of what you're capable of!

Once more, you feel it surging inside of you, flowing like a violent network of rivers…your physical wounds exhausted you too much to have a tight enough control over your Connection to the Force. If they edged you on any longer…

You saw the sparks slowly starting to form and the heavy smoke weaving around you in the air, a sure sign for yourself to calm back down…Cal was in this room, he would die alongside them if you weren't able to hold on.

And the Grand Inquisitor had to have been feeling it too, grunting...pleased, "Troopers! Stand aside immediately! Do. NOT. Touch. Her!"

You could've electrocuted their equipment with a simple touch, in turn roasting them inside their armored black shells. How did he know about that…

"This was a test, you can relax…Twelfth Sister."

Then, a laugh. Not a kind or heart warming one, a sinister one, like a madman that achieved his plan. When the caught him self shortly after, the Troopers walking back to their positions at the door and the Inquisitors all relaxed once more, multiple already having had their hands ready to ignite their weapons, he began to speak once more...

A TEST?! Even Jedi school had less shitty tests than this one, you could've blown everything up if he would've let them go on like this without knowing your limits!

But wait…did he just call you Twelfth Sister?

"That means you passed. You're no use to the Empire without your species' naturally strong connection to the Dark side and your own raw emotions. No synthetic emotion could challenge whatever it is that is fueling your strengths deep inside…though you two's existence could potentially be breaking an ages old Rule…"

He mentioned Cal, which made you look for him on reflex. Panic wanted to light up in your head when he was no longer next to Trilla, never mind her, she was no longer there either!

"I hope you're more willing to gather your bearings at their sides? We already had to fix the Hull once because of…someone…almost over half a cycle ago." There would've more than a karking hole, old man. There can be no hole if there is no longer a foundation for said hole!

Has nobody ever told him to keep his hands off the stove as a child, to not play with fire?

"It's okay, Kyra, you're alright…nobody is getting reconditioned today…well, of those in this room at least." He hushed your thoughts, carefully beginning to inch closer with each gentle touch on your skin as he wasn't wearing armor filled with electrical equipment, hoping he could leave this room as soon as possible. He didn't like it's atmosphere at all, especially with a literal time bomb like you right in the middle of it...

But there was one more thing you needed to tell the irritating pebble of a man back there, calmed down yet or not.

"In that case, I got my first request, Grand Inquisitor."

"Voice it then, Twelfth Sister, but make it quick."

Well, they couldn't say much more than no, so you should ask no rather than later.

"I wish to share my rooms with the Eleventh Brother..."

Deafening silence…

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[kindasleepywriter]

The way to a droid's heart (Cal Kestis x BountyHunter!Reader)

Based on this wonderful request. Always open to hearing more ideas!

Summary: Cal demonstrates what happens to those who mess with you. Warnings: Implied and explicit threats, that's about it Word count: 2.9k

In all the years you’d known him, you’d never understood how Cal Kestis was still alive. When you had met him 6 years ago, you’d been just as idealistic and adventure-seeking as he was. The years that followed, however, had changed you and shaped you for survival. Dreams didn’t get you very far, not in the galaxy like this one.

You’d quickly lost hope of ever becoming a fighter pilot when you’d realized the few rebel cells were dropping like flies, all at the Empire’s hand. One lone pilot wouldn’t make a difference out there, you’d concluded, and from that moment you’d just tried not to end up as space rubble like your parents. You’d ended up as a bounty hunter instead, a damned-good one, and you took what joy you could while chasing bounties all over space.

Cal, on the other hand, never seemed to lose his ambition of defeating the Empire. Not that he’d ever told you that’s what he was doing, of course, but only a space slug could’ve been so blind as to not see it. He wasn’t exactly being subtle, making no effort to conceal the weapon at his side and giving his real name to anyone who might have asked. His ever-growing collection of scars didn’t portray him as a man who sat around waiting for change, either.

Perhaps you’d ask about them, one day.

--

You watched from the far end of a bar you’d never tried learning the name of, as a stoned-faced Pantoran you didn’t recognize spoke with Cal. You couldn’t quite hear their conversation but, with the way BD-1 had whizzed in boredom for a good 10 minutes before scurrying off to scan whatever he could find, you could deduce they weren’t exactly talking about their latest game of holo-chess.

You turned back to your drink, flipping up your hood and shaking your head softly at the man’s persistence. On the move, as always.

You were starting to come to terms with the fact that your contact wouldn’t be showing up. You’d already sighed watching your watch more times than you could count, annoyed at the inconvenience of flying so far into the outer rim for nothing. It had been a pain negotiating your meeting too, the contact insisting on you being alone with no weapons. You’d eventually faked giving in, choosing to keep your rifle and pistol on board your currently broken down S40K and instead hiding vibro-blades inside your boots.

The ship was already on its last legs when you got it, the only reason why you’d been able to pay, but the years had caught up with it in the last two months. You spent almost all of your money on maintaining it in the air, and you were running out of funds fast.  The anticipated need to buy another cheap but more reliable hunk of metal was what had caused you to pick up another bounty only a few days after your last.

Normally, you liked to spread out jobs over a few weeks to enjoy the credits you made, but the sputtering of your engines when you’d crash landed into this city’s landing dock had made clear you couldn’t afford the luxury this time.

You were nearing the bottom of your drink, trying to plan a way off this planet without mounting any more personal debts to anyone, when you felt a small nudge at your right foot. You looked down, expecting to see some rodent or pest trying to eat through your sole, but were instead met with a little red and white hyperactive droid.

You scanned the room quickly to make sure no one was looking, and stretched a hand in his direction so he could haul himself up onto the cushioned booth. He didn’t hesitate to scramble up your arm, emitting a few whizzes and beeps of thanks on the way.

“Hey, beedee,” you greeted him flatly. “Thought I finally managed to evade your scans this time; guess I was wrong.”

A low whistle and a trill.

“I know, I know, you see everything. It’s hard to forget when you always choose to remind me at least twenty times every time you find me.”

He emitted a series of approving noises, and you rolled your eyes at his cockiness. Where he’d gotten that attitude wasn’t a great mystery. He jumped on one foot, nudging at your coat’s pockets with the other, his eyes going in and out of focus audibly as he searched for god-knows-what.

You tsked. “Will you stop that!” you chided and swatted him away like you would a cat. “Yes, I brought you something from my last job, stop assaulting me for a minute and let me find the damn thing. And you better not tell your dad, I’m not letting him think I’m a softie just because I keep entertaining your crow tendencies.”

Suddenly the picture of good manners, the droid sat and wiggled his legs as he sent you a sweet melody. Manipulative little shit, you thought affectionately. He was annoying as could be, but the little guy was cute.

You fished out a shiny piece of silver metal from your breast pocket. You had made sure not to lose the small leaf-shaped brooch, the perfect gift for BD-1. Your last bounty had necessitated infiltrating an Imperial event, and you’d found the piece while snooping through an officer’s desk. You’d never been so happy to have preemptively messed with the camera feeds.

The droid whistled in excitement and bathed your hand in a green light. You tried and failed to fight the smile that braced your lips as you watched him dance around your palm. He scanned the object from every angle he could find.

Too focused on his reaction, you failed to notice the individual looking over your shoulder until his shadow dimmed the wall you were facing. Too late to react properly, you shut your hand as quick as you could and turned to look at the man. Kin Fobam. Another bounty hunter, a Pau’an, one that always found a new way to piss you off. Today would apparently be no exception. BD beeped in annoyance at your movement before noticing you had company.

“Well, well. It would seem our little bounty hunter has a penchant for jewels after all.�� the man sneered at you.

You rolled your eyes and did your best not to flinch at the lack of personal space, his two-meter height trapping you without much breathing room. You could smell the alcohol he had consumed, but you didn’t need it to know he was intoxicated. At this time of night, he always was. You were already almost pressed to the wall of your booth with only enough space to keep BD behind you, so you stood your ground and straightened up as best you could. You kept the droid in place as he spat angry threats at Kin, unwilling to let him make the situation worse.

“Kin, don’t you know women love shiny things?” you mocked with an arched brow, “Maybe if you’d known that earlier, that lovely Iridonian wouldn’t have spat at you again for your advances last week. How’s your attempt at courting her going, by the way?”

You subtly held the metal pin in pinched fingers behind your back as his white face somehow turned even paler in anger, desperately hoping BD-1 would understand what you were trying to tell him. You almost sighed in relief when you felt him swiftly slide it out of your hands into his stim container.

Kin moved even closer to you, forcing you to lean over BD in a desperate attempt to gain some personal space. Your free hand instinctively reached for your hip but only found the weathered leather of your empty holster. Shit, you’d left your guns on the ship! You didn’t have the space to reach for your blades either, so you had no choice but to do it the old way.

You tensed, ready to headbutt the towering Pau’an out of your space, but you stilled when you felt cold metal brush against your skin in the small gap where your shirt and pants met. A blaster. Fuck. This is why you never left without a firearm.

“I wonder, if that piece of metal is worth so much to someone like you,” he growled, “then maybe you’d accept payment in other forms… as thanks for sparing your life today, hm?”

You cringed at the implication of his words but took a steadying breath. You’d insulted this guy in more ways than you could count over the years and you knew he could pull that trigger without a second thought, but you’d fought bounties that were bigger, angrier, and certainly more skilled. He wasn’t the first to try and extort sexual favors from you, nor would he be the last.

Your brain spun in circles, trying to come up with a plan that didn’t involve blaster fire passing through your right kidney and BD-1 in one fell swoop. You didn’t have to think for long, though.

Before you could make a move, a blinding orange light flashed between you and Kin, floating just underneath his chin. You could feel the heat from where you were, could imagine the pain its power wielded. The way the man’s white flesh turned pink at its proximity didn’t go unnoticed.

“How about I gift her with the loss of your life as an apology for letting her endure your dirty ass, Kin?” a smooth voice drawled, the speaker invisible to you with your still-focusing eyes, but you didn’t need to see him to know who it was. As if the lightsaber wasn’t already enough to identify him, but you’d know that voice anywhere too. You weren’t the only one, if the cheering beeps you heard behind you were any indications.

A smirk braced your features as the Pau’an gritted his sharp teeth, hesitating a second before raising his hands in a defeated manner. He demonstratively holstered his pistol to make sure his head wasn’t cut off at the movement and he slowly stepped back a few feet away. The lightsaber didn’t stray a single millimeter from him. His brows pinched in anger, and he looked expectantly towards you. “It was just a little bit of fun, right?” he said as he hissed in pain. “Nothing to get upset about.”

You chuckled at the attempt. “I don’t know, I’m thinking your head on a platter sounds pretty great right about now. Maybe I can find someone out here who’d enjoy some barbecued Pau’an. What do you think, Cal?”

Your heart skipped a beat when your gaze met amused grey eyes over Kin’s hunched shoulders. He winked at you, and you couldn’t help but bite your lower lip.

“I’m pretty sure that violates too many health codes,” he said, “you know, quality standards and such.”

BD whistled in agreement, scampering up onto your back and nudging the side of your head when you got up to lean against the side of your table.

“Too bad,” you sighed, crossing your arms, “maybe it could’ve bought me some new earrings.”

Cal laughed loudly, warmth spreading through your chest at the lovely sound before he closed a hand on the sweaty neck before him and brought his blade even closer to his chin. “The next time you even come within 20 feet of her,” he stated casually, loudly enough for the entire bar to hear and turn the heads of the few who weren’t already watching, “you won’t live long enough to say ‘womp rat’. Are we clear?”

Well, if your heart hadn’t been beating fast before, it sure was now. Never had a threat sounded so attractive before. You diverted your gaze. Get a grip, you reprimanded yourself.

BD-1 only encouraged him, a crackling sound buzzing entirely too close to your ear for your liking. When did he get a taser? You didn’t even want to know what he used it for, finding trouble with his new gadgets was a special talent of his.

Kin, now wide eyed, muttered an affirmative and a long line of fearful apologies, eager to escape the Jedi. Cal flicked off his saber and forcefully shoved him away. The Pau’an bolted out the door of the bar, running for his life, and you couldn’t help but laugh at his fear. BD reprimanded Cal for acting so late, beeps and squeals echoing through the room after the patrons returned to their usual business, but the red-haired man was only focused on you. Your skin heated at the attention.

“I could’ve dealt with him myself.”

He gave you a wide smile and stepped closer, no Pau’an separating you anymore. “Oh, I know. Wasn’t this much more fun though?”

The corner of your lips twitched, and you shrugged, softly shaking your head at his ever-lasting upbeat attitude. You uncrossed your arms, placing them behind you on the rusty table to comfortably lean back. “Still could’ve knocked him out faster without alerting every possible person of a Jedi’s presence here.”

“Give me a break,” he said almost sheepishly, reaching up a hand to scratch the back of his neck, “is a guy not allowed to show off to a pretty girl every once in a while?”

Your breath hitched on a single breath, caught off-guard. Sure, the two of you joked around all the time, but he’d never gone so far as to straight up flirt with you. You tried not to react, probably failing miserably at doing so.

“Smooth.”

He threw his head back in laughter, his reddened freckled cheeks showing more embarrassment that he let on. “I try.”

“Next time,” you said, striding past him, “if you really want to show off, perhaps you shouldn’t wait until there’s a blaster pointed at me before making your move.”  You had no idea how you kept your voice steady, and you couldn’t help but hear the rare softness of it. You were thankful that he couldn’t see how wide of a smile you currently wore.

He jogged to catch up, keeping pace with you as you headed for the docking bay. “I’ll keep that in mind” he chuckled.

You glanced back at the bar over your shoulder, and BD started emitting alarm noises from your other side, indignant at still being ignored. You patted his head, quieting him for a moment. “Where did your informant go?” you asked Cal. “Wouldn’t want to hinder your next side quest.”

“That was anything but a quest,” he said, “Just a boring old trade. Wouldn’t be so boring if you were there, though.”

A loud whistle of approval sounded above your shoulder.

“Hey, calm it, up there!” you exclaimed, using another opportunity to escape from answering. “I’ve only got two eardrums, let’s not break one of them.”

BD whistled again at a lower volume, followed by a barely audible series of sounds.

“Yeah, weak organics my ass,” you muttered. “We’ll talk about how great being a droid is the next time you bend your antennas and come running to me.”

Cal’s soft laugh caught your attention once more. He was watching you both with such a fond smile... Your heart squeezed at how soft he looked, for once not rushing towards something and instead enjoying the moment.

As you neared your ship, small tendrils of smoke still escaping the upper vents, he looked at his watch when it suddenly started beeping, and he made a face. “I’d love to hear the rest of your arguing, but we have to go. A revolution doesn’t fund itself.” he said. He looked up at the droid sitting on your shoulders. “Yes, beedee, that means you. Hop on.”

Cal held out an arm, BD begrudgingly taking his usual spot on his shoulders, spitting menacing sparks at the jedi along the way. The latter looked towards you with a flicker of hope as he stepped backwards towards the back of the hangar where the Mantis stood. “Can I convince you to join me this time? Still got an extra bunk if you want.”

“I don’t think you want me and beedee on the same ship 24/7, Cal. Anyways, I’ve told you before, I can’t just discard my old one.”

He stared at your smoking Hawk-Class before he turned to you unimpressed. “That thing can’t even fly.”

“It can! I just need to fix the cooling mechanism and-”

“And the hull, the reactors, the hyperdrive, the-” he continued, amused at your stubbornness.

“Okay, okay,” you scoffed, “you’ve made your point. Might as well drop it here, I guess. I could hitch a ride, if you’re heading towards the inner rim, but I’ve got approximately nothing to give in payment for the fuel.”

BD startled you with a burst of binary, so fast you couldn’t hear him. Cal looked at you sharply.

“You’ve been giftinghim things?” he exclaimed.

“You utter snitch, beedee!”

The droid whistled at you disapprovingly and loudly shot the brooch from his stim compartment right into Cal’s hands.

“I can’t believe you,” you continued, “the one thing I told you-”

You fell right back into your argument with the droid.

Cal tilted his head back in loud laughter and threw an arm around your shoulders as you whisper-yelled at BD-1, leading you towards the Mantis. “We’re going to have so much fun.”

Getting side-tracked by BD1? In my supposedly Cal-centered fic? It's more likely than you think.

This was pre-realtionship like my last Cal fic because tbh i have trouble setting up the change from friends to lovers without writing a whole novel, but I have some ideas roaming around my head I'd like to write. We'll see how that turns out!

Tell me what you think, and check out my masterlist!

[experiment-000]

Cal and Merrin name their firstborn daughter Cere.

After that, when Merrin is pregnant again, this time with a boy, Greez can't help but joke about the baby being named after him.

They all know the real reason why the baby won't be named Greez. But Greez doesn't know that Cal and Merrin actually discussed it. Didn't want to replace him with a baby by the same name. Didn't want to tempt fate to kill him. They would name a child after Greez in a heartbeat. But you name babies after dead people.

None of this is said out loud. Instead they joke:

"Nah this one's gonna be called Beedee," Cal quips whilst rubbing the droid's head.

"I've always liked the name Turgle," replies Merrin, completely straight faced.

"Monk has done a lot for us, and the jedi were known as monks so it would be fitting," muses Cal.

"Poncho." is Merrin's deadpan response when the question is asked yet again.

They call the boy Jaro.

[starwarsalltypesoflove]

SW - ALL TYPES OF LOVE WEEK

INFO

Star Wars: All Types of Love week is a fandom event of fancreations, lasting a week, that celebrates love in its many forms! Since we celebrate romantic love and familial love often, we thought it might be time to give an opportunity for other kinds of love to shine!

Inspired by the Ancient Greek Philosophers and their seven kinds of love, we aim to showcase those different, less celebrated loves. Rooting for the little guys!

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

No sign-up, nothing. Just create!!!

Post during the appropriate week and you’re good!

We welcome any kind of creation, as long as it is truly yours. Even old posts being reblogged is fine! Old creations deserve as much love as new ones.

Fanfics, fanarts, moodboards, fanvids, fancomics, banners, playlists… An epic fic or a 100 word drabble, an amazing painting or a stick figures funny scene- we love it all!!

WHEN TO POST

Wednesday 7th of February, 00h00 PST, to Wednesday 14th of February, 23h59 PST.

HOW TO POST

Post under the tag SWATOLW during the week the event is running. Add the tag of the type of love you are representing. 

Be sure to @ us so we can appreciate what you’ve made and put it in the round-up!

WHAT TO POST

Star Wars characters, places, animals, games… Be it from the movies, the novels, the comics, the shows like The Clone Wars, The Mandalorian, Andor or even your own OC, the important parts are:

It must be from the Star Wars fandom

It must be about Love and that love must be not romantic or familial

To get a better idea of what we mean by that, you can read more about the seven types of love here. In short, we want to give a chance to shine to:

Love of Friends #philia

Love of Strangers #agape

Love of Partners #pragma

Love of Players #ludus

Love of Self #philautia

You can post about any of these, at any time of the week. There isn’t a day assigned to each type. The point is to create without pressure and celebrate all the types of love we don’t often focus on! The more of these you depict, the more we will love you for it!

QUESTIONS

“I love my two clones who are bffs, but they are clones. Does their love count as familial?”

Well, the truth rather depends on your point of view how you present it.

Pairs like Fives and Echo, and Rex and Cody, are usually understood in canon and fandom to be family. They can be friends too, but we’d prefer to focus on other pairs for this event. Post another time. We’re sure people will love it.

Alpha-17 and Cody have a cross-generational friendship? As long as the way their relationship is described/shown isn’t the dynamic of big brother & younger brother, or father figure & son figure, it’s good!

Want to show off Waxer & Boil being two peas in a pod? We would love that! As long as it isn’t a ship or they, the characters, don’t feel like the other is kin in the way we understand it.

“I want to show my two Mandalorians who are Partners In Bounty Hunting, but they are from the same clan. Does this work?”

No. I’m sorry, but it does not. We consider clan to be the SW equivalent of immediate family, a close circle, so it’s not the right event for this. But it does work if they are just from the same house or faction!

“Can I do two Jedi who are teammates and lovers?”

You can show any characters (two, three, four…) having a relationship that is sexual and based on love. As long as that love is not romantic.

If what moves your Jedi is the sense of purpose found in duty, the common love for the Light and the wider galaxy, the playfulness and affection shared between bed partners, these feelings can be as big as the moon, and it is still fine!

That is the whole point!

Feelings can be enormous and serious and important and still not be romantic or familial.

But if it’s shown or implied that the relationship is romantic/familial or turning so at some point, that is not what our event is focused on.

We know people are a bit tired from the holidays and that Valentine’s Day is a period often rich with events, which is why we put these conditions so it can be as low-pressure as possible. The point is to rejoice in all the breadth and the richness of the human sentient experience of love. In the love of Star Wars. And in the love of this community.

Be civil and show goodwill to participants and spectators. Be kind. YKINMKATO. Go crazy! Be creative! Have fun!

Love!

@swfandomevents

[animatedjen]

shoutout to this funky lighting on Dathomir that absolutely makes Cal look blind

[djarintreble]

cost of attachment || c. kestis

summary: It's been years since you've seen your friend, Cal Kestis. His return causes you to question if leaving the fight is worth his company as well as wonder if you were ever meant to be more. You stumble on what might be the answer to both of your struggles. What is worth more, the fight or a chance of companionship?

notes: My first kestis fic! I’ve been playing jedi: survivor slowly cause i don’t want to finish it! I'm hoping to make this a short series.

tags: Cal Kestis x Fem!reader, jedi: survivor storyline (first 3 hrs of gameplay), angsty flashback, fluff, use of y/n and made up name (kinda like fulcrum for ahsoka), greez plays matchmaker, slow burn (wc: 5k+)

“I can’t keep doing this, Cal. I’m tired.” you cried, a hand going from your hip to gently touch your temple as a headache threatened to appear.

It’s been a long day of trying to convince your fellow jedi that it was time.

Time to let go of the fight.

“We can’t give up…” Cal slowly reached to where you stood and cautiously placed a hand on your arm. He said your name so soft, so gentle, as if he was afraid it would crumble if said louder. “If we don’t keep fighting, who will?”

You looked up at your best friend who you’ve fought along side with for the past 3 years. As two former padawans, you ventured throughout the galaxy hoping to restore the jedi order. The mantis crew was stronger than ever. But even warriors get tired. Now, you wanted nothing more than to forget it all.

Forget the Empire. Forget the purge. Forget the Order.

Except you couldn’t forget. That was a word used in the heat of the moment. All you really wanted was peace. But peace was costly and now it seems it might cost the closest thing you’ve had to an attachment. Someone you loved.

Cal Kestis was far from giving up. His determination drawing to be his weakness.

“No matter what we do. The Empire won’t stop. I can’t keep doing this.”

“So you’re leaving.” He stated softly.

“I don’t have to. We can move forward together. Find a planet on the outer rim, far away from Imperials, maybe Greez can finally open his saloon.” You try to lighten the mood, going to grab Cal’s hand in reassurance. Before you can, he pulls away.

“How can you think that when there are millions of life forms dying at the hands of the Empire? If we stop, who will be there for them?” His passion blinded him. Guided by anger, trauma, and unadmittedly, fear. He had the mind of a seasoned warrior, not that of a young man.

“There are others, Cal. We’ve done our part. We can trust that the rebellion will carry on. You’ve gone your whole life surrounded by war. Don’t you think it’s time to take a breath? Rest? Like actually rest not just meditating and hoping that does the trick before your next excursion.” Your words fell short to the jedi in front of you as he turned around, facing the mantis.

“I can’t stop.” He said, quietly. It only took a few steps before he was at the ramp as he headed back into the ship.

Your training as a jedi helped you in assessing your emotions and not reacting by them. Right now, you wanted to beg Cal to listen to you, to run away, to start a new life. You wanted to grab his hand and admit the feelings you’ve had for him since the day you met back on Bogana.

But you didn’t.

“Then I cannot go with you.” You said, earning a quick turn of the jedi’s head.

He looked at you with a sudden force of emotions. You continued to stand still against the coruscant hanger platform with a straight face. This time he was not afraid to speak your name allowed. He didn’t know how to feel. You really were serious.

“What does this mean then?” He asked, holding back from finishing the question with, for us?

“I have fought my whole life, Cal. It’s time I learn to live. There will always be war. There will always be suffering. If you choose to continue and fight, we must go our separate ways.” You say firmly.

There was a long silence between the two of you. Both scared to be the first one to leave, never losing eye contact.

“Cal, Y/N, we gotta go. I just got a message from Gerrera. We’re needed on- oh…” Greez scrambled out of the mantis. He was hit with a wall of tension created between the two of you. “I, uh, we gotta go, kids.”

“She’s not coming.” Cal said, his green eyes still locked on you. You were the first to look away, giving a knowing look toward Greez. He knew where your mind was at. He was nothing but proud of your decision and that it was only a matter of time before you left the mantis crew. He saw your bag that held what little you possessed and nodded.

“Right… uh, Cal. Let’s go.” He said, giving you a frown. You looked back up at Cal and swore you could feel his pain. It was enough to almost make you change your mind but you swallowed down the guilt and stood a little higher as Greez led Cal back into the Mantis.

“Please rest soon, Cal. You are worth more than the fight.” You gave a final word catching a glimpse of a nod from the jedi before the doors of the Mantis closed.

It has been 3 years since you’ve last seen Cal Kestis. He couldn’t escape your mind though. He has made a name for himself in the galaxy, known as the Empires most wanted. He still couldn’t put down the fight.

As for you, traveling the galaxy was top priority. Sure you’ve had your fair share of planet excursions but they were always on a mission. You never had time to explore the markets and learn of the different cultures. You wanted to learn shryiiwook on the planet of Kashyyyk while being led through the trees by wookies. You wanted to get a taste of luxury provided by the locals of coruscant. You wanted to taste the fruit you saw on Aplooine since the one time you visited, you were too focused on not getting blasted by Imps.

Leaving the mantis allowed you to do just that.

You kept your lightsaber and remained connected in the force. Of course, you still went out of your way to defend helpless people when your conscious forced you to along the way. But never to the point of recognition or turning the ears of the Empire.

New hair, new wardrobe, new name. Only those who knew you prior would even think to call you by your true name.

Though you left, your contact with Cere, Merrin and Greez never ceased.

Cere resided on Jedha, finding a more discreet way of rebelling against the Empire; recollecting the Jedi Archives. Merrin occasionally helping while also fulfilling her own wishes of exploring the galaxy. Sometimes you’d join her on more discreet expeditions.

Greez fulfilled his wish of opening the Pyloon’s Saloon. This was where resided when you weren’t traveling.

Koboh was a beautiful planet filled with many life forms. As a temporary resident of Rambler’s Reach Outpost, you grew close to the other locals and it became the closest thing you’ve had to home outside of the Jedi Temple and the Mantis. You brought back collectibles from all over the galaxy for Doma Dendra. You’d Nekko-back with Mosey throughout the ruins of Koboh. Even Turgle became tolerable.

Now, you were hours away from your next planned adventure to Cantonica. There, your friend Pamiil awaited you, excited to show you around Canto Bight and the other exciting things the planet had to offer.

You just came back from a day’s trip to the far side of Koboh with Mosey, bringing back shards and new information about recent Imperial activity. Your plan was to trade the shards with Doma for a few appropriate attire for the casino planet and pack your bags before leaving that night.

“Thanks, Doma. Hopefully these help me blend in until Pamiil can fit me into one of those dresses that stops my circulation by the end of the night.” You shrugged as you balanced the clothing in your arms.

“Of course, Corde. Safe travels.” The Waluna shop owner called out, a lighthearted laugh following your comment. You smiled at her calling you by your chosen name. Corde; your late master’s name.

You wondered if Master Corde Orum was proud of you. Would she have approved of your decision to step away from the war? Would she have wanted you to keep fighting until you ended up like her? No, you wouldn’t let yourself ponder on such thoughts.

You carried you new clothing back to your small living place, adding it along with the other materials you packed for the trip. Only the essentials and whatever else you could fit into a small pack. The order taught you how to live a minimalist life and that continued to show through your current way of living. Your space only consisted of a bed, a fresher, a small kitchenette, and a hidden compartment where proof of your former life laid.

It was routine to check in on Greez before you left so you made your way toward the saloon with your pack and a few gifts you collected for the Latero.

When you stepped in, you noticed it was buzzing with noise. The place usually only inhabited two or three locals at a time but it was almost as if the entire outpost decided to have a drink at this hour. You caught Mosey at the first table.

“What’s got everyone in a celebrating mood?” You asked.

“I don’t know. Something about ‘down with the raiders’” she said, taking a sip of her drink. “I heard Turgle talking about someone saving him from Rayvis and now they think we’ll get rid of them for good.”

“Hmmm” you said, concern laced in your voice. “Where’s Greez? He’ll know more.”

“Saw him go back into the kitchen a few minutes ago. Let me know what you find out.”

You said hi to Monk before passing through the kitchen doors to find Greez talking through his comms to someone.

“Hey Greez. What’s going on?”

“Oh hey. Rayvis made a visit while you were gone and caused a whole scene.” He laughed nervously. “With Turgle involved, you know how the town gets.”

“Yeah but I heard-“

“My memory is as bad as an Oggdo. I was meaning to bring some of those baskets down to my living quarters and forgot them back in the saloon. Would you be helpful and grab them for me? I’ll take your bags and go down to make a spot for the baskets.” He flashed a smile and held out two arms directing you back out to the saloon. “Thank you!” he sung with a smile too big to dismiss your suspicions.

With a sigh, you turned around to grab the baskets he was asking for. Sure you had somewhere to be, but you could never say no to Greez when he asked for favors. Especially after how many times he saved your life.

Retrieving the baskets, you made your way down to the living quarters. You depended on the force to guide you as the tower of baskets blocked your view.

“Hey Greez, you really need to start cleaning up the place when I’m gone.” You started, setting down the baskets in a corner and turning back around to find the Latero. “I can’t always be the one who-“

You were caught off guard by the person accompanying Greez.

He had fiery red hair and faded scars ran along his nose and neck along with the freckles that painted his skin. Unkempt facial hair hid the scar on his jaw and gave him a more mature look. His hair was grown out in the back and cut on the sides, shaping his face better than his former style. This was all accompanied by sunken green eyes proving he has not slept in days. As he recognized you, his stature became more defined. BD peered from jedi, head tilted in curiosity before little beeps signifying he knew who you were.

Cal Kestis.

Of course he was the talk of the town. Cal was the most wanted man in the galaxy. Here he was in front of you wearing a stupid smile before shaking his head and managing a more serious look.

“Kestis.” You said, not daring to move from your place.

“L/N.” He replied, taking a step toward you. Your reflexes made you take a step back.

“It’s Corde nowadays.” You stated.

“Corde.” he smiled as he realized the significance of the name.

“What are you doing here?” You asked, it was unclear whether you were happy to see him or not. You couldn’t decide yourself. He must have thought you’d go running into his arms or something as he stood there baffled at your tone.

Shouldn’t he be mad at you? You were the first to abandon him. Last time you saw him, the stinger mantis doors were closing as his eyes burned into yours. Surely he didn’t forget that.

“I should ask the same.” he responded, causing you to cross your arms.

“I was about to leave to Cantonica before Greez decided to play a game of unite the jedis.” You said, peering over at the Latero who clearly wasn’t expecting this. His holofilms made him believe this would be the reunion of a lifetime.

“Would you look at that, Corde! It’s Cal Kestis. Your best friend from the good ole days!” He moved closer to the two of you as he pressed on with his match making agenda.

“I see that. He still hasn’t answered my question.” You said, looking back at Cal.

This act of yours was hard to keep up but it was crucial to not let those hindered feelings for your old friend come back. Who knew how long he would be here. Sure you left him but it was bound to happen since the rest of the crew decided to go off on their own too. It was too much to unpack those feelings again.

“The mantis took a bit of damage after our last mission. I came to find the one person who knew the mantis better than anyone for repair.”

Like you suspected. This was a favor. Once the mantis was fixed, he would be gone again.

You shook the thoughts that managed to creep in and looked at Greez to see where he stood with this.

“I said I would help, Corde. Do you think you can help too?” In response to your immediate grimace, he continued, “For old time sake.”

“If it helps, Greez already saved you of a lecture.” Cal smirked. You couldn’t help but return a soft smile.

“Fine. Only because I owe you.” You said, giving Cal a knowing look. Something to repay the way you hurt him that day. Maybe you even owed it to yourself for not saying more. For losing the chance to say how you really felt about him.

“Alright,” Greez huffed before walking over to his wardrobe. “I wanna show you both something.”

With a press of a button, his circular wardrobe rotated to reveal a hidden passageway. The sounds of the machinery moving echoed into the new cave-like hall, signifying just how spacious it really was. You couldn’t but let out a sound of awe as you peered through. It’s been what- two years since you’ve lived here and you’re just now learning about this?

“This is a smuggler’s tunnel. It came with the cantina.”

BD jumped off Cal’s back and pattered over to the entrance and let out his own beeps of curiosity.

“Now you go ahead and look. I keep a lot of spare parts down there. I’m sure you’ll be able to find whatever you need to get the mantis up and running. Besides, it will be more helpful having two sets of hands.” The double meaning was enough to lighten the mood of the room.

“Alright, Greez. We got it. Pamiil will be fine a few more hours.”You laughed, checking to see if you still had your blaster in case of emergency. Carrying around your lightsaber was too dangerous now. It remained in the small box in your flat.

“Thanks. I appreciate all this.” Kestis acknowledged you both. You responded with a nod.

“Cal, can I tell you one thing?” The latero asked. “It’s really good seeing you again.” You smiled, Greez wasn’t someone to wear his emotions on his many sleeves. He had a soft spot for Cal. You couldn’t blame him though, it seemed you did too.

“Yeah, you too.” He responded. “Both of you.” He looked back at you with a sense of vulnerability.

“Yeah…” You trailed, breaking off eye contact between you two. Cal gestured to let you go first and you gladly took it, walking past him.

“And Greez, I’ll think about what you said.” You heard Cal say from behind. You were curious to just what Greez was lecturing Cal about.

“Hey, uh-“ Greez called out, making you and Cal look back over to him. He pondered for a second before simply saying, “Watch your step down there, be careful. I definitely have a pest problem.”

“It’s not me you have to worry about.” You called out, earning a snicker from Greez. Back when the pair of you would go on missions, that became a catch phrase and always ended with you both coming back to the mantis with some wild near-death story. It’s surprising you haven’t given Greez a heart attack… yet.

It was silent besides the echoes of your footsteps and the occasional beeps from BD when he wanted to scan something new. After a few minutes of following the trail marked with circular arches, you came across a green force field blocking you from going any farther. Before you could say anything, a bogling appeared and attempted to go through, resulting in being zapped. The creature fell back with a sad noise.

“Poor fella…” You knelt down to give the bogling a scratch behind its ears as Cal examined the energy field. The bogling leaned into your hand and purred.

“There’s no way through this.” Cal stated. You pushed off your knees to stand back up and look around the tunnel for another way around.

“Look, through there. There’s an opening. Think we can squeeze?” You asked. Cal raised his lightsaber up in the air to illuminate the opening.

“We can manage.” He shrugs, earning a smile from you. Maker… you missed him.

You pushed through the passage first, using the blue saber’s light as your guide. On the other side laid broken foundations and a small stream that puddled from a waterfall. Just how big was this tunnel, you thought. As Cal made his way through you both headed for another opening that came from the other side of this cave, behind the walls.

“How long have you lived here on Koboh?” The Jedi asked.

“I don’t consider myself a resident really. It’s more of a base camp between traveling. To keep an eye on Greez.” You say, climbing up one of the statures.

“You were never one for settling.” Cal called out from behind you. You smiled.

“Neither were you. Guess it’s a Jedi thing.” You say.

“Where have you travelled?” He asked. You performed an old wall jump across one of the broken passage ways and turned around to watch Cal catch up. As he landed, the structure between the two of you broke off, causing Cal to jump once again over to where you were at.

“Cal!” You yelled out, running to grab him. You held onto his arm as if his life depended on it. He was fine, honestly more than fine seeing how much you cared about him. A smirk painted his face as he said, “Careful… Nobody’s used these tunnels for a long time now.” You let go of him and turned back around to keep going. Really, you. needed to hide how red your face suddenly appeared.

As you turned around the corner, you found the energy field showing that you made it to the other side. Piles of supplies and crates laid around the cave.

“Just how much junk has Greez been hiding around here?” You asked mindlessly.

“Leave it to him to take another person’s junk and… add more junk.” Cal added.

As you went through the stuff to find the replacements Cal needed, he asked his question again. “Where have you travelled to… Corde?” He asked.

“You don’t have to call me that,” You said quietly, “there’s too much history between us.”

He said your name quietly, treating it as if it was fragile. He was known to do this. Honestly, he was always one to hold the things you cared about closely. Your name, your past, your lightsaber… Your future. It’s why he never asked the questions that lingered in his heads. The ones pertaining the relationship you share, why you really left years ago, why he couldn’t get your name out of his head late in sleepless nights.

Hearing your name from him once again made you feel warm inside. A feeling you were scared to meddle with once again.

“I went back to Kashyyyk recently.” You smiled. Looking up from a crate you were examining, you found Cal staring at you with a blank stare and smile. “What?” You whispered. He shook his head.

“How was it? Did you see Choyyssyk?”

“I did. He’s doing well. He led me through the Origin Tree again, now that it’s been recovered. It was beautiful to see when I wasn’t fighting an inquisitor.” You laughed yet Cal’s face made it clear that comment stung somehow. You continued, “And he even taught me a bit of shryiiwook.”

“Now that- I need to hear.” Cal laughed.

“I can’t speak it,” you laugh along with him. “I wouldn’t have a voice if I tried. I just now know when they’re making fun of you.” Throwing a gadget that you think could be of some use his way, you peered over to more gear around the corner and spotted the gyro module. “Is this what you were looking for?”

Cal follows your gaze and finds the gyro. He nods, “yeah, that’s it.” BD beeped, almost in a way to remind you he’s still there. You were still rusty on binary as you always use to let Cal translate for you. Cal understood what he said however and looked at him with a frown. “I know buddy but we have to keep going.”

You didn’t dare ask for a translation, the conversation obviously hinting toward you. Of course you missed the little droid and his red-headed companion.

Following Cal, you pondered on the idea of seeing him again after this. That maybe this wouldn’t be a one-and-done kind of situation. Maybe Cal would see how beautiful Koboh was and finally understand what you meant by settling down and leaving the fight.

These five years have changed you. They’ve always changed Cal. Neither of you, though, was willing to back down from your mindset. You left the fight and he can’t see a future where he doesn’t.

“Well… Here it is. Let’s go bring it back to the mantis to get it all fixed up.” Cal latched the module onto his belt and began to walk back toward Greez’ room. You followed behind quietly, somewhat sad that your short adventure was coming to a close.

“Hey Cal…” you began. He turned around with a smile. Before you could ask him, the step you took caused the ground beneath you to cave in. Before you could bear your surroundings, the floor slipped from beneath you as you fell into the apparent nothingness. “CAL!” you screamed.

Cal screamed your name before tumbling down after you along with worried beeps from BD.

You thrashed around, hoping to grab onto something, anything that would stop you from continuing down the dark path. Cal reached further toward you and grabbed your hand. With what little force you could focus in, you both pulled into each other. With his arms around you, he managed to wrap around so he was the one that fell first. You managed to land on a fallen arch, sliding down a long path that finally revealed an opening to a new part of the cave. The hill bumped you off causing the two of you to roll onto the new foundation. After scrambling around to find your grounding, you landed on top of Cal; your head landing on his chest.

It seemed you both haven’t processed that the fall was over as Cal kept his tight grip on you and your arms clinged onto the fabric of his vest. The sounds of BD’s concerned beeps brought you back to reality. Cal loosened his hold as you sat up, noticing the position you were both in.

You would have felt embarrassed if you weren’t distracted with how this new light made his green eyes seem almost seafoam green. How his red hair seemed to have bright orange highlights after years of many suns exposures. It’s been years since you’ve seen him up this close. So close you could see the way his faded scar on his nose trailed up toward his left eye in a light pink hue. His lips were chapped as they were left slightly open in response to your sudden curiosity.

“Are you okay?” He asked quietly. You pushed up away from him and suddenly realized how cold this area was. He was so warm.

“Yeah, I- I’m good. You?” Cal sat up onto his elbows with a groan.

“I’ve been better.” He replied honestly. He rolled his shoulders back as he sat up more. You realized he took the fall for you and jumped up to help him.

“Thank you.” Was all you said as you lifted his arm to help him stand up.

“For what?” He asked with a small laugh.

“Looking out me.” You responded, making sure he knew you were serious. He gave you a soft smile. “You always have. Even when I didn’t notice. Like now when you took the fall or all those times you saved my ass back in the mantis days.” Cal gave you a smirk.

“I’ve missed those.” He said, dusting off himself. BD climbed up his back with an agreeing “woooop boop.”

“I have, too.” You placed a hand on his bicep consolingly. “I’ve missed you.” You admitted. There was no more act to play. Now, you couldn’t let Cal leave this planet without knowing just how hard it was for you to leave him that day.

Cal placed his hand over yours. “The day you left… apart of me left as well. I haven’t been the same.” He couldn’t look into your eyes anymore.

“I thought you were mad at me for leaving. It’s why I never reached out. I’m sorry.” Before you could add more, he stopped you; his grip on your hand tightening.

“No. You made the right choice. I didn’t understand it at the time but- seeing you now… it needed to happen. A smart latero once told me, ‘it takes more strength to walk away than to keep fighting.’ I could never be as a strong as you.”

"Cal, that's not true."

"Yes it is. To keep you would mean to leave the fight. And... the fight is all I know." You couldn't respond. He was right. All you could do was wrap your arms around his waist and give him the hug you held back from when you first saw him that day.

You didn’t know where you were but it didn’t matter. Not when it meant you could be wrapped in Cal Kestis’ arms. A place you always wondered would ever become your safe haven.

Time was frozen as you breathed in his warmth once again. You were scared if you let go, you would feel the cold you felt before; the cold that inhabited you for the past few years.

You realized you never settled as you thought. You were still on survival mode under the pretense that you were exploring. To settle, to breath, meant being by his side. It took leaving and experiencing that sense of solitude to realize it. Now, you didn’t want to leave his side ever again. Even if that meant rejoining the fight.

The stubborn side of you thought it was stupid. You weren’t going to change your ways just because your past feelings decided to make an appearance. It was telling you that the second the mantis was fixed, Cal would leave you and you’d never see him again. It would take Koboh three rotations around its sun just to get over the hurt you’d make yourself feel by letting him in again.

But the side of you that was influenced by the force, by the ways you’ve been raised and taught, it told you this was meant to be. The force works in mysterious ways and events like this don’t happen just because. You were meant to see Cal Kestis again. The thought made you squeeze him a little tighter.

Your grip caused him to chuckle as he responded by rubbing your back consolingly. “I’ve missed you, too.”

Finally letting go, you pushed back to scan for any injuries you’ve ignored. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

He rolled his shoulders back again, rolling his head and twisting around waiting for something to pop or hurt. His years of being a scrapper destined him to aching bones and poor posture. So along with his never ending need to fight and not rest, he ignored some of the cracks and soreness. “Yeah yeah I’m alright. Tell you this. The sooner we get to Greez’s, the sooner we can-“ He stops as he looks beyond you. Cal gently moved you out of his way to look.

“The sooner we can what?” You asked, turning to look at whatever caught Cal’s attention. “Oh.”

The vast cave seemed endless. Waterfalls were replaced by old, disfigured structures. It felt familiar. As if you’ve always known they were here. It reminded you of some of the buildings you’ve seen in the distance on Koboh but was afraid to visit alone.

“What is this place?” You asked as you followed behind him. BD responded with a curious 'boop beep.'

“Almost reminds me of the Jedi training grounds.” Cal responded, you gave a nod in agreement. That’s what it was.

"Is this our way back?" You asked.

"Only one way to find out. Care for another adventure?" Cal turned to face you, an enticing smirk plastered on his face. His hands on his hips. BD beeped as in reiterating Cal's question.

You couldn't say no. Especially if it meant more time with your old friend. If this meant you'd be by his side a little longer, you'd wait to see if you would ever become more.

Beyond these caves would soon answer that question as you both worked toward a way to finally put the days of the Empire behind you and breath. Working along side the mantis crew once again to find what you've always longed for.

A home.

----------------

hi!! thank you for reading this! I said I was going to make this just one part but now I want to write more of cal and corde... lmk if you'd like more adventures between them! maybe they will finally admit what they were scared to this whole time.

corde - latin for "heart" french for "string"

tag list: @emberlei @chaoskrakenuwu

[fancyfrey]

“I remember what the Jedi were,” Hera said,

“during the Clone Wars, it wasn't just the clone pilots who fought to liberate and defend my Homeworld from the droid army. The Jedi were leading those clones. I remember Generals Windu and Kenobi.”

“They were heroes,” Kestis agreed quietly.

“Do you remember them?” She asked carefully.

Textless art for my fanfic

Read on AO3, FFN or Wattpad

[frost-queen]

I’ll risk it all for you (Reader x Cal Kestis)

Requested by: anon, Forever tag: @missmelodramatic, @theletterhart, @alex--awesome--22​, @elllie-does-the-posts, @floatlosers​, @merlieve​, @queen-of-books​, @glimmering-darling-dolly​, @denkisclown​, @wildieflower​, @meyocoko​, @bubblybrianna​, @justanothercoco​ @idkwhatmyusernameis,  @subjecta13-thefangirl, @m-rae23​, @harleyquinnswifeyfrfr​

You carefully looked where you stepped. Everywhere nothing but green. Kashyyyk was the planet you were on to find a Wookiee chieftain named Tarfful. – “Keep up Y/n!” – Cal called out, turning briefly to you. – “Scared I’ll fall behind?” – you responded with mischief in your eyes. Cal shook his head childishly, mocking your ways. He puffed loud, turning back to the front. His eyes widened when his foot took a step forwards. In a split second wrapped a rope around his ankle, shooting him up in the air. BD-1 having jumped off his back. Cal was hanging upside down, waving his arms around. 

You came closer, laughing your ass off. – “How’s it hanging?” – you asked lowering yourself with a tilt of your head to smile at him. Cal slowly swinging from side to side. – “Can you cut me down?” – he said irritated. You gave him a gentle poke in the chest, letting him swing a bit more, thinking. – “If you say pretty, please.” – you responded. – “Y/n!” – Cal groaned trying to pull his chest up with little success. – “I didn’t hear you say please.” – you made clear, holding your hand behind your ear. – “Can you for one second not be irritating?” – he already felt his blood lower to his head, making him dizzy. 

Shrugging your shoulders, you straightened your posture again. – “Bye Cal.” – you waved him goodbye, taking your leave. Cal pressed his palms against his eyes, groaning. – “Okay, wait!” – he forced out, hand stretched out to you. Curling up a smile, you returned to him. – “Yes Cal.” – you asked keeping him still as you let yourself bend down to meet eyes with him.

“Can you please cut me down…” – he asked. BD deliberately not interfering with your bickering. – “Sure.” – you answered. Pulling out a knife, you cut down Cal. He dropped with a loud thud, groaning at the sudden pain in his back. He came sitting down, untying the rope from around his ankle. – “See that wasn’t that hard, was it?” – you said out loud. Cal’s face stood sour, BD approaching. The droid hopped onto his back before he got up. You took a few steps, pausing to look at Cal behind you. 

“You might want to be careful; I hear there are boobytraps here.” – you teasingly exclaimed. Cal walked up to you, giving you a hard nudge. Making you nearly lose your balance. – “Very funny.” – you called out waiting to see his response, but there never came one. Following close by, you kept your eye out. You had been lucky to have not encountered any stormtroopers on your way. The war on Kashyyyk not being a pleasant one. Stepping up your pace, you took the lead. Taking a halt at a cliff. Cal coming to stand beside you. 

Hands on his hip he took a deep breath. He spotted a vine not that far, pulling it closer with the use of the force. – “So you want to go first or would you rather have us swing cozy together?” – he wiggled with his eyebrows making you roll your eyes. Cal shrugged his shoulders, taking a few steps back. – “BD, hold on.” – he said over his shoulder, gripping on tight to the vine. He started running, setting himself off at the cliff to jump across. You watched as he swinged in perfect balance across, landing steady on his feet.

He turned around waiting for an applause. You clapped briefly for his ego with a sarcastic smile. He gestured to you to be ready to catch the vine. Pulling his arm back, he let it swing hard back. You caught it, grabbing around with your hands to be certain you’d have it. Cal motioned for you to come. Taking a deep breath, you took some uncertain steps back. Running up to the cliff, you squealed loud at the drop off. The vine swung halfway across the cliff when a blaster shot fired your way. It missed you, hitting the rocky wall. 

Cal’s eyes widened, turning to where it came from. Up on another cliffy part, he noticed three stormtroopers. The sudden attack had startled you that much, you’d forgot to jump. Swinging above the deeps, slowing down with each swing. – “Cal!” – you called out in a panic, clamping onto the vine. He gasped loud, eyes wide with fear as you were a clear target now. You screamed, ducking a bit when blasters fired your way, missing you by a few hairs each time. Cal tensed his jaw, stretching his hand out upwards. 

He felt the strong push of the force, but the stormtroopers were too far for him to do any good damage. His eyes stood grant when a shot went your way. He forced his hand forwards, hitting you with the force. The vine got swung hard back to avoid being hit. You called it out, swinging hard back. There wasn’t much he could do. He needed to think quickly to avoid any concerning troubles. – “Y/n!” – he shouted. – “Hang on and when I tell you to, you let go and leap forwards.”

“What?” – you panicked at how ridiculous dangerous that sounded. – “Just trust me.” – he said in return. You nodded shakily as Cal used his way to make the vine move. You got blasted back, making you swing back. Blasts firing above your head. You went one more back, till you swung strongly back. – “Now!” – Cal shouted running up to the edge. You let go, jumping as you blind fully trusted Cal. Cal held his arm out for you to catch. Your fingers brushing over his lower arm down to his hand in the hopes he’d catch you. 

A blast fired Cal’s way making him flinch. You gasped loud, feeling your fingers brush against his, nothing afterwards. – “No!” – Cal screamed out; hand reached out down when he saw you fall. Your screams dying out down the pit you were falling. Cal got up, taking no second to dive headfirst after you. Hand stretched, wanting to reach for you. You had no idea what was below, eyes fixated on Cal who desperately tried to reach you. Light as a feather, you closed your eyes waiting for the worst. Then your back crashed against something hard, followed by wetness. 

Cal fell down into the waters, reaching for your body under water. You felt an arm go around your body, being pulled to the surface. Cal and you gasped above water. – “You okay Y/n?” – he asked worriedly, one hand pressed against your wet cheek. You splashed water in his face, confusing him for a second. – “What were you thinking!” – you called out furious. – “What?” – Cal replied confused. – “Why’d you jump so recklessly after me!” – splashing more water at him, you were angry that he would do something that stupid.

“I don’t know! I just did!” – he shouted back, getting as equally worked up as you. – “You could’ve been killed!” – you called out, arms trembling from the raw emotion. – “So could you!” – Cal responded loudly, staring intensely at you. Both holding that fierce gaze even when BD beeped loud on Cal’s back. Cal and you puffed, looking away. The two of you swimming to a little green island. Cal shook his leg in an attempt to dry it faster. You squeezed the water out of your clothing. A deep sound came from the caves not far from the little island you were on. 

It made you stumbled back against Cal. Cal holding you by the shoulders. – “Don’t tell me you are scared Y/n?” – he smirked, looking over your shoulder down to you. – “I am. Not.” – you confidently replied. Another sound made you shriek, clamping onto Cal. – “What was that Y/n?” – he laughed, all smug looking. You looked frightened around. – “It’s probably one of those spider creatures.” – he teased. Your eyes widened frantically, making you almost jump into his arms. Not wanting to be on the ground if it was. Cal laughing louder than ever at how needy you were. – “This isn’t funny Cal!” – you said rudely. – “You know I am deadly afraid of those things.”

“I know.” – he whispered in your ear, unable to hide the power it gave him. You pushed yourself off Cal, having a shudder go down your spine. – “It is probably nothing, Y/n.” – he reassured you. You weren’t so sure. Cal pointed at the caves as it was the only way away from this place. Swallowing nervously, you followed quietly. Darkness embraced you like a cloak when you entered the cave. BD turning his head lights on to light the way. 

Cal extracting his saber as it gave a faint light, reflecting against his face. Looking over his shoulder, he made sure you were close by. BD bleeped curiously, his lights beaming off the walls. Venturing deeper into the gaping cave’s mouth. You reached out to Cal, startling him. – “It’s just me.” – you said nervously. He took a deep breath, taking your hand. Guiding it to his belt where he insisted on you taking a hold off. This way he’d know you were close. Cal lowered his lightsaber when he came at an open space. Light from above falling into the pit. BD’s light dimming. 

The sunlight making you close your eyes for a second to adjust to it. Cal took a moment to observe. – “We can climb up right there.” – he pointed out. Not hearing you response, made him look down to his belt. Your hand wasn’t on it anymore, making him lift his head back up. – “Y/n?” – he said concerned, looking around. He found you standing not far from him, standing stiff. He walked up to you, tugging on your arm.

When you wouldn’t move, he knew something was wrong. BD bleeping warningly, making him look up. From a hole lighted up a few eyes. Cal gasped watching one of those spider creatures crawl out of it. His eyes widening, knowing how much you feared them. He pulled you behind him. – “BD! Stay with her!” – he ordered. The little droid jumping off his back. Cal readied his lightsaber with a twirl. He was about to launch forwards when he spotted another one coming. Soon three or four more came crawling out, making him back up. 

BD jumping warningly in front of you to move. You backed away, falling over a rock. – “Get back!” – Cal called out, waving his lightsaber around. BD moving frantically in front of you daring one to even come near you, for he would protect you till his last bleep. Cal launched forwards, striking his lightsaber at one of the spider creatures. Needing to keep his eyes on the others as well. From the corner of his eye, he saw one make his way over to you. Cal spun around, pulling the creature back by the way of the force. Gritting his teeth, he let it drop near him, sticking his lightsaber through it. With three at a time where they hissing and tapping their front legs forwards to Cal. Your heart beating out of your chest, too scared to move. Cal rolled back to block one’s path to you.

He fought them fiercely knowing how much it meant to you. Ready to fight them off for you. He struck another one down as two more appeared through the crawling space. One running rapidly over to BD and you. Your eyes wide with fear. BD electrocuted it as it only stung a bit. Cal shot his hand out, forcing it to be dragged back. He gasped when something sticky wrapped around his hand. 

The spider creatures fighting back. Moving his hand down, he started tearing it off. Two more spiders hissed their web his way. Making him drop his saber, hands bound together. Inhaling sharply was he now defenseless. They started surrounding him as he struggled to get free. Your eyes fixated on Cal, hearing him struggle. The urge to help him screaming louder inside of you. But what of those creatures you feared for so long. BD hopped on one foot, the other sticking to his body with a web. 

Slowly your friends were endangering themselves. Taking frantic breaths, you needed to act now. Something snapped inside of you, seeing them tackle Cal to the ground. Jumping up, you screamed it out, blasting at them. Cal turning his head in surprise at you. You kept firing, screaming out your rage. The spider creatures got several hits. One lost it’s leg as another one had pus trailing down it’s body. You got closer to them, acting on adrenaline to save your friends then to give in to your fear.

One exploded making Cal roll away. They started backing away to the hole they came from. You wouldn’t let them escape, taking your revenge on them. One by one shooting them till they died or exploded. Out of breath, you lowered your blaster. Cal frantically freeing himself to get to you. Knees buckling, they gave in, letting you drop down. Cal rushed in front of you, taking you by the shoulder. – “Are you okay Y/n?” – he asked worriedly. 

You let your hand rest against his cheek, catching your breath. Cal’s gaze moved rapidly over yours, taking a deep breath. – “You… you fought them Y/n… you actually fought them…” – he said half smiling. Touching your cheek he was very proud of you. – “Why? What made you overcome your fear?” – he asked. – “You…” – you responded. – “I couldn’t… I couldn’t watch losing you.” – you added, pulling yourself a bit up by his uniform. 

Cal let his finger brush against your cheek, sucking in a deep breath. Leaning in as he pressed his lips onto yours. Moving his hands to your lower back, pressing you closer to him. You kissed him passionately back. BD bleeping made you pull away. Cal got up to retrieve his lightsaber. You smiling admiring at him. He noticed it, chuckling. – “Are you going to continue drooling over me Y/n? or are you actually going to be helpful?”

You gave him a roll of your eyes. You walked up to him, standing near him to look upwards. – “It’s a pretty high climb.” – you stated. Cal moved his hand around your back, pulling you towards him. – “I know.” – he whispered before stealing a kiss from you. You gave him a playful slap for being so silly. – “Lucky for you, I can get us up in no time.” – he answered walking up to the wall. You followed, pushing him back with your bottom against his front. 

“I go first.” – you insisted. Cal smirking. – “Of course you are.” – he chuckled. You started the climb as Cal was right behind you. – “Eyes up Cal!” – you called out. – “Oh they are up.” – he replied mischievous. You looked down seeing him look up to you smiling. Rolling your eyes, you knew he was just enjoying the view. In no time were you back up to continue your search for Tarfful.

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Read more of my fics on my Masterlists!  

[lesbian-cal-kestis]

Pretty sure the only tropes i have floating around in my head are:

Cal Kestis getting hurt

Cal Kestis getting betrayed

Cal Kestis being emotionally unstable

Cal Kestis being evil due to all 3 of the above reasons

Cal Kestis being evil because its fun to write him like that

I feel bad. This man deserves a loving family but that does not, in my opinion, make for a compelling story (at the very least, in my writing style it does not make for a compelling story).

[jedi-order-apologist]

Managing

People don't understand, but they don't ask questions, either. Written for r/AO3 Acegust - Prompt: "Touch Repulsed" and StarWars100 - Prompt: "Scavenge"

Read on AO3

Before, Cal had always been around people who understood why he sometimes shied away from touch. The lingering traces of a person’s experiences didn’t just rest on objects, but on people, too, and some days that was too much for him to deal with. All Cal had to do was say that he was psychometric, and any Jedi understood. It had been easy enough to explain to the clone troopers, too.

It was different now. He couldn’t tell anyone he was psychometric; no one on Bracca knew what that meant, and it would be worse for Cal if they did.

But being a scrapper meant he could manage. It was better, after all, to wear gloves and protect your skin when out there scavenging for scrap and salvage. No sense risking more than you had to, out there. Medkits weren’t cheap, and even small cuts could get infected.

And if even in the after-hours, when they would shed their gear, Cal would sometimes avoid contact, well… he’d learned to be unobtrusive about it. Some days were better than others.

Prauf noticed when Cal had bad days, of course. But he didn’t ask questions, and he gave him space.

Cal managed.

[hereforthefanficsandromance]

The Way He Looks at You Series I:I

Act I: The Way He Looks at You Chapter 1: The Way He Looks at You

Read on AO3 Read on Blogger Read on Tumblr Story Master List: The Way He Looks at You Series

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Chapter Summary

After being dumped by your Jedi boyfriend, you accidentally bump into Inquisitor Cal Kestis, the Thirteenth Brother. He takes an interest in you and intends to give you what you desire most. Rating: 18+ Words: 2.7K

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You are shuffling through a city on Coruscant, attempting to find relief in the crowded marketplace. Having fled your work at the nearby Rebellion safe house, you had walked until ending up here. It’s always been dangerous working right under the nose of the Empire, but it became lucrative to have a few soldiers at ground zero.

Your eyes are tired from all the crying, and you can barely pay attention as you walk down the dirty streets. Normally, showing weakness in public would humiliate you, but right now, it doesn’t feel like it matters if people see you at your worst. Nothing can cause more distress than the pain in your chest.

You had woken up this morning believing your life to be moving in a positive direction. It took six months of going steady, and two years of pretending not to flirt while on various missions together. But you had finally gone all the way with your boyfriend, thinking things could only get better.

You’re one hell of a pilot; and had a knack for knowing exactly where to be to get your teammates out of particularly sticky situations. It made you valuable to the Rebellion; it allowed you to meet Theo.

He fell for you during your first mission together, but rejected his feelings. You’re pretty, but that isn’t enough to pull a Jedi. Theo’s initial attraction to you ensured more opportunities to work together; he found any excuse to assign you as the pilot for his missions.

You were immediately smitten as well and struggled to resist his natural charm. Emoting your feelings was second nature, which makes it easy to flirt when you find someone attractive. You were confident in your ability to get boyfriends, but meeting Theo caused you to stumble. You lost your confidence with flirting and instead let him lead. Jedi had been off limits before the purge and you had lived under the assumption that this was still true. You weren’t willing to risk losing him by pushing your luck.

When speaking to Theo, you carefully monitored your words, but never fretted your actions. Conveniently, you were always available to help him with any task. You also kept a first aid pack on your ship at all times, trying desperately to be the one to bandage his wounds. It meant one-on-one time where you had an excuse to touch him and listen to his stories. The conversations quickly became more friendly. You would giggle at his jokes and he would try to impress you with his tales. You hated to see him hurt, but found yourself disappointed when he came back unscathed.

You accidentally showed that disappointment after a mission when he excitedly let you know that he finally made it back without a single injury. While you said nothing incriminating, you felt your expression drop and Theo noticed it as well.

He later tapped you on the shoulder during the journey home and asked if you could look at his finger. Claiming that he didn’t feel any pain when he first got back on the ship but he was feeling an ache now. You both knew it was a lie, but you wrapped his finger anyway while he watched and talked about the events of the day.

He was so handsome it made it difficult to stay focused on your work. His features never failed to captivate you; he had dark messy hair and gray eyes that pulled you in. It didn’t hurt that he also had a charming, boyish smile and always looked right at you when he spoke. He made you feel special during those times, like everything he said was only to pull a reaction only from you.

The longer the two of you worked together, the more you needed him like air. Everyone else realized how inseparable you both had become, but you knew nothing could result from it. He was always loyal to the Jedi Code, and you understood he could not form attachments.

Theo surprised you when he asked you to be his girlfriend. He did it during one of your many first aid sessions. He had been silent while you tended to the cut on his arm, prompting you to ask if he was okay. Theo paused for a moment, then suggested the possibility of dating. There was conflict in his eyes when he asked, however, you both agreed to try the relationship. You were over the moon, but he seemed reserved in his decision.

Your relationship lacked most physical intimacy, but you were happy just to belong to him. The two of you kissed from time to time, but Theo always cut the sessions short before they could lead anywhere. Despite your disappointment, you respected his decision to take things slowly until yesterday.

You had intentionally been wearing rather revealing clothing on your day off with him. You couldn’t help it. He was so good looking that you wanted more. Maybe not sex, but more than kissing. You just wanted him to desire you the way you desired him. The blue shirt you chose was low cut, showing off your ample cleavage. You had paired it with a black skirt that hit above your knees. You spent the day with Theo, teasing him relentlessly but acting innocent the entire time.

It was so easy to just bend over right in front of him while picking something up, allowing your skirt to rise a couple of inches. When you stood back up, holding whatever object you had pretended to care about, his face had become flushed and his mouth hung open.

During lunch, you had placed your hands in your lap to push your breasts together while he spoke. Tilting your head to the side while listening to him tell a story from a recent mission. You didn’t miss how he glanced down and stumbled over his words, needing a moment to regather his thoughts before continuing the tale.

You even squeezed past him when he was standing in a tight area of his kitchen. There was nothing you needed on the other side of his body, but you found something to pretend to grab, just so you could rub your ass against the front of his trousers. You had felt how stiff he already was for you, but ignored it, or at least acted like you didn’t notice. He had released the tiniest exhale at the touch, a small gasp showing his inability to fully resist his desire.

It was enough. When you kissed him goodnight before leaving to go back to your own place, he wasn’t ready to stop. He had pulled you flush against his body, something he hadn’t done previously while kissing. It became obvious why he had always kept space between your bodies. His arousal was apparent. It was hard not to rub against it, but you didn’t want to risk scaring him off, so you let Theo lead.

He guided you back into his bedroom without coming up for air. However, he broke the kiss to ask permission before removing each article of your clothing. He removed them all, and you had never felt more beautiful in that moment. The way he observed your body was far superior to any of the times he watched you when he spoke. His hungry gaze and small smile could make anyone feel like the most gorgeous woman in the world.

When he took off his clothes, and you stopped breathing. He was perfect. You had seen him without a shirt from the previous times of doing his first aid. And you had definitely looked when he wasn’t paying attention. But this was nothing like those moments. Because he wanted you to look, he wanted to see how your eyes raked over his body. He watched you, wanting to see your approval and lust. He didn’t stop watching you as he slowly removed his trousers. You felt a distinct need to open your mouth when they dipped down past his hips and it slapped upwards, hitting his lower belly.

But he didn’t give you an opportunity to satisfy that craving, because he pulled you into his arms and backed you up against his bed. Wanting to get right to the main event. It made sense. It’s not like he had much experience in that realm. You thought that maybe the next time you could show him how enjoyable things could be before orgasm. But this time, you’d let him take what he needed.

The poor man barely lasted a minute, but that minute felt like heaven. Theo was needy and chasing his own pleasure. It still felt good, but it wasn’t enough to get you off. The noises he made during that minute, if only you could have recorded them. That would be the only sound you would want to hear for the rest of your life. The whimper that escaped his lips when he first entered you did something to your brain that you may never understand. His grunts in your ear as he pumped himself deep into your heat were music to your ears. You bit down on his shoulder just to hear more. His body reacted immediately to the feeling, and he groaned deep and throaty, precisely what you wanted. Only then, you realized that you accidentally pushed him over the edge.

He had collapsed onto your body, kissing your neck and collarbone repeatedly, like he was trying to thank you for allowing him to reach his peak. He rolled you both onto your sides and held you close against his chest all night, whispering sweet nothings into your hair until you both fell asleep.

Then you woke up this morning, and he wasn’t holding you anymore, he wasn’t even laying in the bed with you. Instead, he was sitting on the edge of the bed, his back facing you. Of course, you immediately asked if everything was okay, letting the sheets fall from your body. He never answered your question and only asked you to put your clothes back on so he could talk to you. It was the most humiliated you’d ever felt. You suddenly felt extremely vulnerable in your nakedness. He wouldn’t even look at you, as if ashamed at the thought of even viewing your unclothed body. The body that he had been so eager to see, and touch, and be inside of was suddenly impossible for him to look at.

With your clothes on, he finally looked at you. He explained he had broken the Jedi Code, and he needed to remember the old ways and not stray from his path. There was a ringing in your ears as your mind exited your body, desperate to protect you from the hurt you both knew was coming.

Theo broke up with you, and it felt like you were watching your life get sucked away into the abyss. He stated that the two of you could no longer work together on missions, at least until this had blown over. But encouraged you to go back to Yavin 4, to continue your work with a different team. He tried to explain the Rebellion could surely use your talents elsewhere and you are a good soldier in this fight. It’s like the last six months of your relationship had never existed. The way he spoke sounded like a captain speaking to an underling; there was no familiarity.

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The emotions well up again as you remember how he looked at you. The past few years, Theo gazed at you like you were all that mattered to him. Yet today, when he looked at you, that expression had vanished. You would likely never see that look on his face again.

Hot tears pool and flood towards the quickest exit from your lower lids. The big ones fall straight from the center while the smaller ones had the courtesy to fall from the corners. You wipe them away before they hit your exposed chest. A cruel reminder that you were wearing yesterday’s clothes, and the memories stored in them.

The tears in your eyes cause your vision to blur so severely that you accidentally bump into a civilian on the street. You don’t want any trouble, so you quickly mumble out an apology. Your body gently bounces off of them and you adjust your direction so that you can try to pass without hitting them.

A hand grabs right above your elbow, not letting you pass. You feel the sense of danger, but are overall too numb to fully emote.

“You should really be more careful.” A cruel voice says, you can hear their lips curling as they speak. Alarm bells are ringing, but the shock of this morning dulls the intensity.

First, you look down at the hand, trying to process the situation. Long slender fingers curl around your arm, gripping you in place. The pale skin covered in a galaxy of freckles. You want to follow the constellations upwards, but the cuff of their black uniform prevents it.

Your heart palpitates, your eyes creeping up the sleeve, until you see it. The Inquisitor Insignia on their shoulder, right at eye level. Your gaze hesitates, denial setting into your mind, knowing what you’re seeing but not wanting to confirm your suspicions.

“I’m speaking to you.” The voice says, tightening their fingers around your upper arm.

This snaps you out of the thoughts. You look up into a pair of intense green eyes. His bright red hair and the matching stubble immediately give away the identity of this man.

Your familiarity of the Inquisitors had come from several years of working for the rebellion. Theo had even known this man before he fell to the Dark Side; they had trained together as younglings.

The Thirteenth Brother’s sharp features are menacing but beautiful. The photos you had seen didn't do him justice. He’s handsome, but his hard eyes lack mercy and it makes your whole body tremble. You can’t help but let your eyes trail over his features, especially when he stands so close and it might be the last thing you ever see. At least he’s easy on the eyes.

Your gaze traces the sharp edge of his jaw before glancing up at his well-groomed hair. As your eyes travel downward, you note the thin scar across its bridge that runs onto his right cheek. Finally, observing at his full lips and accidentally wondering what they must feel like. You didn’t think it was possible to feel so much attraction towards someone so dangerous. Something must be wrong with you.

The Thirteenth Brother snickers and uses his other hand to place a finger under your chin. Tilting your head until your eyes finally look back up into his. He has a funny expression on his face, a combination of annoyance and amusement. The left corner of his mouth raises ever so slightly.

“I haven’t heard that before.” He says.

Your eyebrows furrow, not understanding his words.

He clarifies, “Easy on the eyes.” His expression doesn’t change. He only observes your face as it flushes with realization.

You panic and quickly run through everything he might have heard in your mind: about his lips, and your attraction, and something being wrong with you. You try to clear your mind and focus on returning his stare. His eyes are fierce and focused on you, as if you are the only thing he sees at this moment.

Butterflies fill your stomach, maybe in fear, but more likely just from the excitement of being looked at this way. It’s intense and feels extremely intimate. He’s watching your every movement, like he sees you completely and wants to know more. Probably only looking at you this way because he is reading your mind. Oh no, he’s reading your mind.

You quickly drop your gaze, but he doesn’t drop your chin, so now you're back to staring at his lips by accident, but you don’t resist fantasizing about them. Your brain has given up on self preservation, too exhausted to care about the danger.

He bends down slightly, trying to lower his gaze to where you are looking, to get your attention. Your eyes refocus back on his own.

“Usually I leave others speechless from fear, but you, you don’t seem afraid in the way I prefer.” He says in a low voice, the vibrations causing you to shiver slightly. “I find you intriguing, so I’ll be keeping you.”

He leans forward, your hair catching in his stubble as his mouth reaches the shell of your ear. “Perhaps, if you’re good, I’ll permit you the feel of my lips.”

Your brain goes fuzzy between his words and the feel of his hot breath as he speaks. Honestly, his mouth may just be intoxicating. He lets out the tiniest chuckle before pulling away. He definitely heard that.

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Next Chapter: The Way He Touches You

[simpingwriter]

Cal Kestis x Kyra Yarmot

'Revenge and Redemption

In the Name of Love'

Pt.1

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Ayo, we are BACK! Also...it was probably obvious by how I painted everything, but yeah...Kyra isn't dead. Yet. 👀

Thanks to everyone who voted for the second book in the last week, I will try my best to not disappoint.

But, to balance out my other hobbies and the few hours of freetime I have, I probably won't post new chapters as quick as for the first book, depending on how easy the chapters write themselves. After all there is a new Star Wars game to play- (and I finally need to finish Fallen Order...)

Enough talk, here is the as always boring introduction chapter featuring a new side character!

Enjoy! :)

Word Count: approx. 3.650 Words

(Also, in case you haven't read the first book yet, here you can read from the beginning of it.)

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You still felt the cracking and twisting of your neck, your spine being bent in ways that shouldn't be possible, even for you…and you remember the last words you heard before…before…

You died.

Or…at least you were pretty sure you were dead, as you slowly felt some light fall into the void you had been stuck motionless in for almost an eternity now, only your vast amounts of past mistakes and the same memories as always left for you to ponder over and over again as you were sure this was the end. The light had to be the afterlife, right?

You didn't want to leave Cal and BD like this…no, not yet…

This is too early…

But the light grew stronger, despite your protests and groveling.

Ever stronger. 

And now you were able to blink- wait, pause. You weren't able to blink in the void before, neither had you been able to move-

"Kyra?! She...she moved her hands! Quick!"

That voice…that's…that's-

"C-cal…" you groan, the name rolling from your tongue instinctively, the bright lights continuing to blind you as you regain full control over your eyelids – feeling the sleep crust stuck at your eyelashes – trying to adjust to the light…of this room. This wasn't death.

This is an infirmary.

"I'm here, Kyra, i'm here... I won't leave your side, never again!" Cal sat at your bed side, visibly exhausted with dark, sunked rings under his eyes and his hair not having seen a comb or brush for a good while now, holding onto your free right hand as his golden eyes filled with more than just worry, relief and joy. You never expected to see such emotions in these types of eyes…

These weren't just anyone's eyes though, those are Cal's eyes, no matter if they were still green or now golden and the slightest bit of red, they had never lost the warmth familiar to them. Of anything, they looked more emotional than before. He no longer had to hide his feelings from himself...

And the connection you two had…had it been tethered the whole time, had he been able to see and hear what you did? If yes, why couldn't you see his thoughts while…in a coma, you guessed?

Cal had just opened his mouth to respond when a woman dressed like a doctor nearly ran into the room, partially sliding to an abrupt stop as she looked into your eyes. Dressed like a doctor, probably is a doctor. Instead of continuing his own explanation, he can't help but chuckle lightly at your unfiltered thoughts about the woman that just came in, shaking his head in disbelief, "You don't know how glad I am that the fall didn't change you…"

Change you? Because you struck your head? Well, it's probably a very viable risk you had, you had read about amnesia and whole personalities changing after heavy head trauma-

"I came as soon as I heard your shout from the hall down, Eleventh Brother!" The older, quite energetic doctor rambled, staring at you in awe and odd wonder. Like a child seeing a Wookie for the first time.

Never seen a drago-…no…no, probably not.

"You can't believe how long I have waited for such a moment, ever after I read the old research pa-" "Dr. Puloria…" Cal, unfamiliarly cold, snaps her back to reality as her eyes widen from…fear? Or just Respect?

And did she just call him Eleventh Brother?

So, it's official…he really became an Inquisitor. But you knew that for longer now, finding out about his new "nickname" clearly just caught you off guard. You came with him knowing what would happen…and after all these things you saw on the Mantis, some too gruesome that even BD begged you to not watch any further? 

You're ready to join his side, fully and determined.

"Right, right, I am so sorry. We can continue about this when you're well rested and on the next routine check-up …okay. How do you feel, darling?" The doctor calmed herself down significantly after Cal called out her behavior, evidently needing to take a deep breath twice before she could return to a normal tone with you. What made you that interesting to her? In the end, you're just another girl in this wide-spread Galaxy. She did almost mention research papers when Cal…the Eleventh Brother…stopped her from rambling on any further. To be honest, it grabbed your attention more than it probably should right after waking up from a coma of unknown lenght.

You next realized how dried out your throat was at that moment, watching 'Dr. Puloria' look for a folder on the messy desk at the wall. Well, as good as you could look in your apparent condition, every rash and quick movement with your neck stung like a thousand microscopic vibro-blades and soon you just gave up trying to force the pain away, sticking to turning your head as slow as possible, but even that ended up being too exhausting.

Slumping back against the pillow, you feel Cal caress your unusually pale hand gently, like he could accidentally hurt you even more with the wrong touch. "Your neck took quite a hit…the Doctor said you're lucky to be naturally armored at so many parts of your body, as it saved you from getting paralyzed neck down." He laments, bringing attention to the offending and immensely obstructing object around your neck. You remember one of your assigned Clones once had to wear one of these, it stabilizes the wearer's neck until it can carry its own weight again without causing more damage or pain and the injury has healed.

Accepting your current fate, for now, you ask Cal if he could please find a glass of water for you, that your throat felt like you had swallowed a bucket of burning, coarse sand. Something he didn't even have to answer with a nod or words as he jumped to his feet and began looking for a glass and leaving the room, returning in under a minute.

"Here. Drink as many as you think you'll need, the Doctor prepared me for the moment you would hopefully wake up, so I know by now where most necessities should be..." 

So caring…and loving. You missed your Cal, missed his kind and understanding nature. Your perfect mate.

You were so…afraid, of losing this light forever. Your light, that became everything you needed and wanted in such a short and unexpected time. All because you met in the right circumstances and you were both in desperate for affection, something nobody cared for in either of you for way too long at that point. And now, for you, it's eternal. You just hoped you would never end up boring him…because you aren't his mate. Humans don't have just one mate by nature, they didn't get bound to one another like you did...

"You're overthinking again…you would never bore me, dragonfly…" And you missed your nickname, only ever used by him, rolling off his tongue.

From the corner of your vision, you saw Dr. Puloria listening along very clearly, at some points even forgetting to look more for the folder instead, which in turn called her out to you. She really was interested in…you, or it seemed like that to you at least.

"Cal, can I get another one, pretty please?" You ask sweetly, holding out your glass, the puppy eyes very much unnecessary as he had already gone to fetch you a fresh glass of water. He would do anything just to know you're not in any more unneeded pain.

This was the fourth now. But you were sure that one would then be enough for now, feeling your throat being hydrated once more, not the grizzly dryness from before. Now you were just extremely thirsty.

Just as quickly as the other three times, the completely dressed in black – and some red accents – Boy returned, his eyes kept trained on you the whole time, afraid you could fall back out of consciousness if he didn't for some reason. But you wouldn't go anywhere, you're staying right here with him, at his side and his warmth.

"I was so scared…I never felt so out of control in the air..." you didn't even plan to say that, it just…slipped out, Cal grimacing at your wounded words, "Me too, I thought- I mean…there, there was so much blood, Trilla said that you were a lost cause, but I just couldn't leave you to die…all, all alone, nobody at your side…not after the things you told me, about the things you witnessed yourself."

The image he had to have seen flooded your thoughts, something you weren't sure if he even knew he let you see through your connection. He was right, there was a lot of blood. So much purple on the sharp rocks that stopped your fall…and…oh- oh no…

Your seemingly lifeless body was forgotten by you as you saw something else lie close to you, broken limps scattered and sparks coming from the ripped cables and broken optics, was BD. He…he didn't make the fall. And you began to remember that he slipped from your weakened grasp at that moment. 

He trusted you, to keep him safe. He jumped for you…

And you couldn't keep even BD safe…

"BD…" you mumble, a stray tear on your scales wiped away by Cal as he realized with panic what you saw, first apologizing for forgetting how open the thoughts of yours were to each other if you didn't restrict them or similar. "He…I took him with me. I couldn't leave him either way, he had been my companion for this whole journey, he risked his memories for my stupid waste of a journey …"

You know exactly how it feels, to lose even the smallest size of a friend…it hurts no less than the other full sized ones. Maybe even more since they clearly were depending on you keeping them safe. It was your own failure that took your own former companion from you…just like with BD.

But BD…you saw a sliver of hope for him. Unlike with the little green blob you were grateful to have called your friend once upon a time, BD is fixable. His bones aren't unfixable, there was no blood to lose and no skin to tear.

Would you ever be able to scrub that image from your mind, or at least...learn to deal with the fact that it happened?

Just as Cal is about to ask you about the friend you meant, he is once again interrupted by the Doctor, a bitter pout wandering onto his expression as he sighs. 

Later, Cal, later…

"So, well, first of all, I should inform you of your current whereabouts. You're on Nur, the Moon of Mustafar. I hope to the dear makers you're not claustrophobic, because we are 90% underwater in this base." Nur…you remember the name, you once passed through the Mustafar System with a different Jedi Master you found trying to "hide" out. Quite insulting to your actual attempt trying to hide from the Empire when he was just two planets off of Coruscant, trying to drink himself into his own Coma.

You knew that man well from your former time at the Temple, sometimes having been the substitute for when your actual Master was needed by the Council for a meeting. You also knew he once had a Padawan of his own, one you never had the pleasure to meet…but to hear the various stories and adventures of the two. The good and the bad, all while his said former Master got wasted beyond the stars...

Master Tegra never let you meet the other Padawan as he was afraid of you getting rejected once more, like usual. He never told you out right, but it was so obvious it sometimes hurt more than the possible rejections from your peers. He didn't want you to get rejected left and right because it would lead to frustration. And frustration was an entrance path to getting on the wrong side of the force.

Worked out very well for you, old man…

You were long gone…how long? Maybe already before Cal lost his way, maybe on that or that planet a few years ago…but you never fully realized when you began to lose the balance Master Tegra taught you feverishly. Your course changed so subtly, not even you noticed until it was too late to really ever return...

The doctor continued reading the folder for you, pointing out some of the minor injuries that healed while you had been bound to the bed…for how long were you even unconscious? Days? Weeks?...Months?

"Okay, that list being done, let's continue to the two that still have to take their time to heal, the ones you have to be careful with to not worsen them once I release you from the Infirmary tomorrow." You would be getting released already tomorrow? That sounds too good to be true, you absolutely hated Doctors. Well, not the people. But having to go to their office…back in the Temple you remember clinging to door frames with all your four claws, sometimes even utilizing your fangs, your Clones trying in groups of five to tear you off the said frames because you were up for the monthly blood tests.

You were nearly fearless, but needles…oh nononono. Not needles. You didn't even know why you had that particular fear in the first place, as the needles they used didn't even hurt on your skin. Some weren't even strong enough to penetrate deep enough at your normal skin, it also being tougher than your average human's skin.

"First off, your neck injury. It was heavy blunt trauma, it shook your spine up a bit, to say it in layman's terms. But nothing some position correction couldn't fix. You're getting the neck brace taken off in two days by the way, as you're healing very well. I account that to your heightened immune system of your species." Right, a neck brace, that's what they were called…you already felt bad for the Clone back then, but wearing one yourself felt like a tiny prison, even drinking your karking water just now had been a struggle. 

"And secondly, the only thing you will need to be careful of for a while…your wing. I bonded the torn membrane with advanced bacta patches, to draw them together and let them heal and scar naturally."

Right…

She cut your wing…she took what made you who you are. She is the reason you're here today, stuck in an infirmary bed.

The reason you woul-

"Relax, Kyra, you'll be having all the time in the Galaxy to think about your revenge…but you need to get better first." You hated it when Cal was your only voice of reason – now not even BD was here anymore to encourage your chaotic thoughts, just for fun and to see what would happen – of all possibilities, it had to be the boy that chose the Empire of all places as your safest choice. 

"I heard that." "Good." You already back in the next breath, giving him the first snarky smile since a while now again before your attention went to the odd feeling behind you, something you noticed just now only.

It's gauze wrapped around your entire wing…how did they manage that and just how much gauze did they waste on that?

Did they really think some weirdly advanced bacta patch of all things the medical field had to karking offer, could fix your wing? Such injuries have crippled your ancestors for life, why would you be any different! 

You…you would never fly again, you would never be able to feel the breeze on your face and scales once more…

No more were you a proud drago-

"The gauze I will take off tomorrow morning, don't worry about that restricting feeling as of now, it is only there in case you thrash in your sleep or subconsciously tried stretching your wing in your unconscious state." That- That wasn't the problem…the problem was that something so important couldn't be just fixed by slapping a karking bacta patch on it, hoping it would magically heal like they did with every other wound…

Never could you take Cal…or BD, for flights again, all your worth your body had, cut apart like cheap paper, by your own Lightsaber…insult to injury.

"We can do nothing else but try, Kyra. And I trust Dr. Puloria. She is maybe a bit too energetic and a bit hectic sometimes, but she does great work!" At the 'energetic and hectic' part, the white haired woman pulls her eyebrows up in question before chuckling, "Yeah, I might need to drink a bit less Caf before my shifts. But you need to understand, it's really hard to stay awake without it in a job like mine. Doctors and Nurses need to be up almost 24/7, especially when your understaffed." That had also been a common problem at the Temple, but they let their patients feel their exhaustion…they were rude and rough with you, hoping to be done with you as soon as possible. 

And then people really had the audacity to wonder why you tried avoiding their offices as much as possible. Not only to not be forced to get treated like that as well, but also with a small thought in the back of your head: If they had at least one less patient…would it lift some of their work off their shoulders?

Your stomach suddenly intervened your thoughts, gurgling loudly in protest. It had to have been empty all this time, the…ugh…needle in the back of your hand – however they managed to penetrate through the scales of all possible places – probably part of some bag with a mineral and vitamin liquid to keep you from becoming too malnourished while you couldn't eat. Cal reacted the quickest at the foreign, strange noise, his unoccupied hand going to look and search through the pockets at the back of his uniform's pants. It proudly returned with a bar somewhat the length of his palm, wrapped in matt black plastic, which he immediately went to unwrap for you.

'Energy Bar - Imperial Ration #28907ENB' it simply read…minimal design, you liked that. 

At the sight of the small Energy Bar, the Doctor sighs in some distinct type of disappointment, "Eleventh Brother, an Energy Bar like that, basically nothing but sugar for said Energy, is not going to make her any less hungry…this is for training, so keep it for that. Eat that yourself, I will get her something different, more nutritious in the meantime…"

Makers, you hated Doctors and their sense of needing to be correct all the time sometimes.

Pouting, both of you, you wait for her to leave the darkly colored yet incredibly bright room. Then, Cal went to break the bar in half anyways. "Here, at least take a bit of it while she's out…" For an Energy Bar made for and probably by the Empire, it did look karking delicious. But that could also be just your stomach thinking and making decisions for you.

"Then you'll also get a culinary taste of what awaits you, I guess?" What awaits you in the first place? You didn't care in the end, you would be ready for anything if it is at his side again…you would've even continued suffering on the Mantis, if he had decided to stay.

"You know I eat absolutely everything." You return with the same tired and a bit loopy smile as before. The needle was feeding you more than just vitamins and minerals, definitely.

"Which speaks even more against Greez's cooking, not even you brought every meal down…"

While Greez wasn't exactly bad at cooking…he was definitely a niche chef, as you would call it. He had certain ingredients he was able to cook well with and others, oh well, they were a lost cause in his four hands…

Fortunately you no longer had to witness that daily disaster. "You want to eat your half yourself or can I…" "Yes, you can…you forgot that I can hear your thoughts too?"

He looked just a bit stunned before he shook his head sheepishly, coming closer to your already slightly open mouth with the Energy Bar. "Please don't bite my finger, I know you're hungry- Ow." 

Now you just had to do it, for the simple fact that he really thought you would eat his hand. But you bit him only very gently, his 'ow.' ending up to be more playful than anything else as he pulls the baked and glazed bar away again, "What did I just say? You're a bad girl."

A- a w-what...

The second attempt, you kept your sharp fangs to yourself and finally also ended up getting the food he promised you, chewing satisfied on the still slightly crunchy cereals and fruits it contained. It really tasted as good as it looked, maybe favorite snack worthy…

No, that was Cal-

"I heard that one too." "Ah good, I was worried for a moment it didn't reach you-" another snarky moment of yours was cut short when you felt his soft and as always needy lips on yours, a low moan growing in his throat as you melted back together. As surprising as this came right now, you waited for him to finally claim you once more.

You remember the final, burning feelings of regret as you fell back down to the planet, how you regretted not kissing Cal when you had found him again in the mountains after all these months, that you wished you had just gone with your guts and kissed him then and there.

That you would've just believed him and Trilla instead of having to investigate yourself, but anyone would've done the same thing after having been fed these lies by the Republic all their life…

Just as he deepened the kiss, becoming rougher with his lips, feeling his tongue ask for entrance and his hands starting to carefully as possible cradle your injured head, you both heard someone clear their throat. Dr. Puloria…

"She is supposed to eat food, not your face, Eleventh Brother. Same accounts for you." 

He jumps off of you instantly, face burning as bright red as your fire as his hands had been quite obviously been caught in the cookie jar. Was…was it still forbidden for you two? Did you still have to hide your relationships and feelings for each other?

Cal heard your thoughts perfectly, you knew that and still he kept his mouth shut this time as the Doctor placed a tablet with two plates onto a bed-table for you. "Usually I would have a Droid helping me with these tablets, but that stupid thing broke down two days a-" she stops rambling to mostly herself at this point when she realizes that neither of you two had really listened to her, eyes going from you to him and back to you.

"Right…The Eleventh Brother has been "vaguely" hinting at you two being…more than friends. And apparently no one has bothered to tell him in his three, nearly four, months here that relationships aren't forbidden. But it is kind of awkward running into two people just kissing…"

That does explain her odd reaction...

That also means though you're wrong with your earlier fearful assumption, you no longer have to hide your relationship…you can finally live your life, even if it meant being on the apparently bad side of this intergalactic war…

This was the moment Cal always talked about, wasn't it? About having to be selfish at some point for one's own happiness instead of constantly watching out for others. A teaching only oneself can learn, as no Jedi was taught that piece of advice. If anything, showing selfishness was also forbidden, like many other freedoms that made up living life as a whole.

Did the Jedi ever truly live life to their fullest?

Surprisingly, it had been a dark question plaguing your mind even as a youngling and Padawan already – just that it was more innocent in nature back then – watching the idle lives of the other Jedi Knights, Master and fellow Padawans pass by without any memorable moments seemingly sticking to them. At least, they never openly showed them to their kin. Everyone would think they're getting attached…and then…well, you didn't know what they did to punish them. Even though your own Master was part of that same Council, he was very tight lipped about what happened beyond these ominous, big doors.

While they followed their boring daily routines, you had a huge amount of natural curiosity that often led to you ending up in trouble, usually saved by your Clone Troops. They had covered for you so many times…if you had been just a bit better behaved- No…it's in the past now, there…there was nothing that could bring Zeta and the rest back to you…nothing.

The scars of that day at last began their healing when Cal abruptly fell into your life, something you still like to describe as a punch to the face from just how sudden it was, the frequent small little conversation you shared ever since the night on that Bardottan Market and at that small lake helping not just with your emotional healing.

"But that's part of a matter that isn't my expertise. I just make sure none of you bleeds out, dies of poisoning or gets an infection…well, and annual check ups."

Kark no, not check ups.

"Here, you should eat now. Afterwards, you should rest up – and no more funny business – you're supposed to speak to the Grand Inquisitor tomorrow noon after I officially released you and we just can't have you looking even more mentally out of it than you're already." She hands you a pair of metal cutlery before turning around to leave, "And Eleventh Brother, you should be rested for tomorrow's hearing as well. Do both of you a favor and sleep at your room tonight."

With that, she left the room once again, which – taken from her overall tone – probably the last time you saw her for today as Cal silently agreed with a nod. But you could hear the growing wish to protest against her, that he wanted to stay at your side even now that you're awake. Especially now…he had waited so long for you to wake up again.

Actually, thinking about that, you hadn't even had the thought to ask about how long you had been unconscious for-

"Four weeks…you were in a coma for four whole weeks, that's why most of your wounds have healed by now." 

Four weeks…of wasted time.

Time you could've used to plan your revenge.

Meaning you had to push even harder than probably expected of you, you needed to get back on your feet as soon as possible.

They would all regret treating you in such ways…they would get to see what happens if you keep pushing...and pushing a person, until they had to figuratively and literally jump over the edge...

Today, we write about the day the Galaxy gained another Sith...

___________________

[kindasleepywriter]

An Unexpected Visit (Cal Kestis x Mechanic!Reader)

Summary: You find a little metal friend in your lonely workshop on Koboh and you have no idea where he came from. The answer to that question brings you more hope than you thought it would.

Warnings: Small blood mention.

Words: 3.8k

Note: Thought I'd post a little something while I work on the next few chapter of BoP! Pretty sure this is gender neutral, but if im wrong don't hesitate to point it out!!

Koboh was a hot planet to live on even on its coldest days. There was no such thing as frost here, and snow was out of the question. The native population of the planet was used to it, buildings designed to keep out the sweltering air and clothes made of the thinnest materials.

You, however, hated it.

You’d been warned the planet was warm, but no one had quite mentioned how high the temperature really was. You regretted trusting the Ihi Tib that had brought you here more than anything, but you’d used up all your credits on that trip and there was no way in hell to make that money again to leave, not while working here.

You longed for Habo, the little planet you’d decided against in favor of this one. No raiders, no empire soldiers, just nature and its shy inhabitants. No droids either, but there wasn’t any here either, so you didn’t care. Sometimes, you dreamt of reaching its lush forests and mountains and feeling cold drops of rain on your skin.

The metal roofing of your shop did you no good either, heat waves often visible above it. Its only room felt like a furnace even at the best of times, and you weren’t a stranger to the feeling of sweat-soaked clothes sticking to you uncomfortably anymore.

You tinkered with a metal detector that some prospector had brought to you, taking the opportunity of the night’s barely detectable coolness to work on a project. Apparently, it had stopped functioning properly after it’d been dropped into a chasm. By the looks of it, you were surprised it even was in one piece. Well, mostly in one piece. Maybe the revenue you’d make from this might be able to pay for new boot soles, yours having almost completely disintegrated because of the burning sand that covered the entire region.

The only sound in your workshop was the harsh grating of your screwdriver against the detector’s metal, as you tried to pry open its chassis. The thing just wouldn’t budge, and you considered whether the boots were even worth it.

A whistling sound startled you, the old screwdriver slipping and taking a chunk out of your palm. You swore and tugged a rare oil-free cloth from the toolbox beside you, hitting your head on your work lamp in the process and swearing again. You pressed the cloth against the wound to stop the bleeding and looked towards the open room to determine where the whistling had come from. The door to the shop was locked, you’d triple-checked it while closing. Was this one of the raider lackeys trying to draw you outside again? You’d fallen for it exactly once and promptly learned not to investigate strange noises you might hear outside, but this sounded like a mechanical whistle, not a breathing being.

The strange whistling sounded again, this time from behind you. You spun on your heels, tied the cloth around your hand, and reached for the rusty rebar you kept by your workstation. Nothing seemed amiss at first glance. Had you imagined the sound? Maybe the heat was getting to you, you hadn’t refilled your water canister since this morning. Dehydration hallucinations were rare for you, but you’d still had your fair share, especially when you’d just arrived to Koboh. Getting used to this planet had been a challenge.

Suddenly a flash of red and white crossed the room, hiding behind a wooden bin you used to store your own unfinished projects. The whistle came again, followed by a few beeps. A droid, you realized. He’d been speaking binary! You’d hardly recognized it, not having heard it since your arrival. Lots of droids, the Ihi Tib had assured you, the bastard.

“Hey little buddy, can I help you?” you called, slightly lowering the rebar but still holding it tightly with your free hand. A series of beeps followed in response. It was mostly unintelligible, but you could make out the meaning of some of it.

“Yeah, I’m the mechanic here, do you need something fixed?”

A scared whistle. You crouched, putting down the rebar at reaching distance from your hands.

“I’ve let go of the iron, I won’t hurt you as long as you don’t hurt me, deal?”

You received no response, but the droid tentatively stepped out from its hideout. It was a cute one, you thought, a little flat head and cubical body supported by its two lanky legs. You could see his eyes focusing and zooming on you, no doubt examining you for any sign of aggression. You raised your hands as a peace gesture, and he stepped closer. He emitted a green light from his position. You laughed at the sudden scan but didn’t move.

From up close, you could see the damage he carried. The side of his left leg was blackened as if burnt, and its small body had a gaping hole that revealed his inner components. No wonder he’d been scared, one more hit and he’d be fried. He looked mostly intact on the inside, but you’d need him in your hands to determine if that was the case. You went to speak but got cut off by the loud noise of your door slamming shut behind you.

“Beedee, I told you to wait while I left to find a spare-”

You squealed at the man’s voice, grabbing the piece of rebar again, wincing as it rubbed against your clothed palm, and jumped to your feet.

A man stood at the entrance of your shop, only a few feet from you. You shakily held up the rebar between the two of you as a threat, the droid incoherently beeping behind you and hitting you with his little leg. You ignored him, and the intruder raised his hands, showing you that they were empty. You could see a metal baton at his side and a pistol strapped to his thigh, but he wasn’t reaching for them despite the threat of your rebar.

“Whoa, easy,” he exclaimed rapidly, “I’m not here to attack you!”

“What do you want?” you called, “Shop’s closed at this hour.” It was fairly late in the night, and not many people were still up at this time apart from you. No one with good intentions, at least.

He took a less defensive stance, increasingly unimpressed at your choice of weapon, or your unsteady hold of it. “My name’s Cal, I’m just here for beedee.” He gestured to the droid. “Come on buddy, we’ve got to get back to Greez.”

The cantina’s owner?

“How do you know Greez?” you asked with narrowed eyes. You’d never seen this man, and he’d never been around here. News spread fast in a village this small, you would’ve heard about it in less than a day. The cantina sometimes welcomed suspicious or dangerous individuals, and you wondered if this new guy was one of them.

“It’s a… long story. I’m just visiting. Beedee, let’s go.”

You examined the man closer, as he was clearly only interested in the droid. Now that the adrenaline had mostly run its course, your mind pointed out how attractive the man was. Sure, his armor-looking leather garments looked like they had seen better days, but it was hard to ignore his soft-swept hair, scatter of freckles and sharp jawline that his stubble didn’t quite manage to hide, not to mention his lean yet muscled build.

The droid, beedee, didn’t make a move to leave. Instead, he pushed into your leg again and emitted a series of noises you couldn’t understand.

“Is he always this unclear or is my binary just rusty?” you asked the man hesitantly, keeping the rebar in hand and taking a few steps back to put space in between the two of you.

“He got shot in the middle of a fight, his vocabulator got damaged,” he said. Your grip on the metal tightened. A fight? “I was going to fly to a relay point to find him a new one, but this guy,” he shot a reproachful look at the droid, “Won’t stay put long enough for me to go.”

The droid continued his monologue. The only word you could make out was ‘Mechanic’.

“I’m a mechanic, beedee, is that why you came to see me?”

He near-violently nodded his head.

“I’m sorry he disturbed you, like I said, we need the new component to fix it.” Cal said, shrugging.

You crouched and took a closer look. You could view the injured piece now, its main area intact but its outer edge clearly burnt out. You shook your head. “You don’t need a new one, actually.”

Cal looked at you like you’d grown a third head. “Have you seen the chip? That thing is as good as dead.”

“Not if you reroute the circuit towards his internal commlink instead.”

He blinked. “You’ve worked on droids before?” he asked cautiously.

You nodded. “It’s what I trained for as a teen on my home planet, but I had the great luck of finding a dishonest pilot who promised me there were a lot of droids here.” You gestured to your near empty workshop, embarrassed. “As you can see, not quite the reality of the area. The only ones here are those the raiders keep, and I’ve made it quite clear to them on multiple occasions that they could shove it. Being on their bad side isn’t the greatest, but at least I’m not helping them loot and kill people. Used to work on ships too and loved that, but those are also lacking here.”

He looked at you as if evaluating your body language. You weren’t exactly hard to read; you wore your emotions quite visibly. “Why haven’t you left?” he asked.

“A droid mechanic on a droid-less planet doesn’t exactly have the revenue to jump on a hyperspace voyage. Maybe in a couple years, but at this rate the raiders will have found any stash of money I could keep. Anyways! what I’m trying to say is I can fix beedee if you want.” The droid beeped approvingly from where he stood, jumping up and down in triumph.

Cal seemed to weigh the risks. You didn’t blame him, some unknown mechanic on a near empty outer rim planet didn’t exactly inspire confidence, but you knew you could make the repairs easily.

“Alright,” he said defeatedly, “but if a single electrical filament is damaged, I’ll know, and you won’t get a cent.”

You shrugged, his threat not scaring you. The droid already had enough injuries as is, you weren’t planning on adding to them.

Beedee jumped up to the worktable you’d been working at earlier and you pushed aside the metal detector with a wince. The movement pulled on your palm painfully. The droid didn’t miss your reaction and pushed on your injured hand with a foot.

“Just a cut, little guy, nothing to worry about.” You said, perhaps unconvincingly. The screwdriver you’d used was a bit rusty, and you knew you should get a bacta patch to keep an infection from spreading, but you couldn’t afford one. You’d wash it out with water later and hope for the best.

The droid didn’t miss a beat at words and a little vial was suddenly flung up in the air. You didn’t manage to catch it, not having the reaction time you might have with more rest and water in you, but a calloused hand caught it before it could hit the ground. Cal stood next to you, offering the tube in an open hand

“A stim?” you exclaimed, picking it up and examining it, “I haven’t seen one of those in years, they cost a fortune.” You glanced towards Cal.  “I’m not sure the cut warrants using one.” you added.

The man just folded his arms and leaned against the table. “If beedee says you need one, I wouldn’t argue, or else you’ll be arguing with him all night.” he said.

You mumbled a soft thank you as you injected the stim, your hands already feeling much better after only a few seconds. You took off the cloth and despite the dark red that coated your hand, the cut had all but disappeared, leaving only a thin pink line behind. You scrubbed the dry blood off as best you could and turned towards the droid again.

He sat in front of you, presenting his exposed wiring. You picked up your smallest welder and started working, self-conscious of your beat-up tools. You could feel Cal leaning in with each detailed movement you made, unquestionably watching the process to learn how to do it himself. You worked as diligently as you could despite your focus trailing occasionally to the man that held close to your side. The slight reprieve the night air provided seemed gone, his warmth seeping into your skin.

It wasn’t a complicated job, you just needed to reroute the processor to the commlink to translate the droid’s processes into clear binary code to then bypass the burnt translator located on the edge of the vocabulator. It was a trick that was specific to this type of vocabulator though, so it wasn’t a well-known process.

You finished with the rerouting, satisfied by the clear binary beedee could now emit as he properly introduced himself to you. And idea shot through you and you slipped out from Cal’s side to reach for your spare parts bin. You rummaged through it for a moment, the droid sending you a questioning whistle.

“Wait a minute! I know I’ve got it somewhere here…” you grumbled. “Ah-ah! Here it is.”

You held out a grey piece of thin durasteel as you sauntered back to the waiting duo, grabbing your heat gun along the way. “I think I can give you a temporary fix for your casing, let me just… There! It doesn’t match your colors, but it should do the trick.” You slid a newly shaped metal plate over the spot where the casing had melted away, grinning at its sturdiness. “This won’t fix it forever; I’d need a little more time to make an entirely new one and to make it the right color, but this should keep your components safe for a while!”

BD-1, as you now knew him, spun around in circles as he tried to check out his new part. You took out a small mirror from a drawer and held it up to him so he could see. He let out a string of excited beeps and whistles, repeatedly asking Cal to look at his ‘cool looking patch’. You glanced to the man on your side and discovered him watching you intently with a small smile. You felt your cheeks heating under his stare and scuttled back a few steps.

“Uhm, I hope this all works out until you’re able to find new parts, you guys! I could get started on a new custom permanent case too, so beedee doesn’t lose his usual flair.” BD-1 whistled in approval. “Shouldn’t take me more than a few days, maybe 5 at most, if you’re interested.”

Cal nodded, his intense gaze not faltering. “I think that’d be perfect. How much for today’s work?”

“Oh no, consider it as a repayment for that stim and for the opportunity to work on a droid again. Honestly, I had forgotten how much more interesting it is than working on the prospectors’ tools. As for the pickup, if I’m not here when you come back to get it, that means I’ve gone out to trade for parts. I’ll leave the finished casing in this drawer here,” you pointed to the right one, “and you seem to know how to get past the locks. Just close it back up when you leave!”

He laughed at the remark and thanked you for your work on BD-1. The droid gave you a sharp farewell whistle despite its clear disappointment at having to leave already. He climbed onto Cal’s back as the man moved toward your shop’s door.

“Hey,” you called, “if you come around this corner of the galaxy again after picking up beedee’s casing, don’t hesitate to swing by! It’s always nice seeing someone new.”

He turned on his feet, walking backwards for a few steps. “I have a feeling we’ll see each other again, don’t worry.” He winked at you, leaving you at a loss for words, and turned back to walk through the door.

After you calmed your elevated heartbeat, you locked up after him, deciding the two unexpected guests were enough for one night. You leaned back against the door and sighed. Maybe you should’ve accepted the money. Cal seemed like a nice guy, but Koboh was getting harder every day. Habo was still on your mind, but you’d settle for anything other than this damn planet. Kriff, you’d even be willing to join a crew of wandering space pirates if that meant you actually got to do something other than retrieve and fix the same old tools over and over again. Maybe one day luck would favor you, you thought, or maybe it just wasn’t meant to be.

-- 9 days later ---

The walk back from trading was always exhausting. The prospectors that held the best materials were currently residing on a high cliff that hid a cave’s opening. Getting up there was arduous, but if you left early enough it was manageable despite the climbing you had to do. By the time you made the trek back, however, there was no escaping the sun’s rays, and the only thing keeping your hands from the burning rocks as you scaled down the cliff was an almost ruined pair of leather gloves. They wouldn’t last another climb, you thought, and neither would your boots.

You’d have to find something to barter with the one villager who made most of the prospectors’ equipment. You didn’t even have money for food this week, but you’d make do, like you always did. Maybe you’d go back to the cantina tonight to offer maintenance on Greez’s bartender droid. His cantina was apparently bringing in more customers this week, so maybe you could find some other work there too.

You were also looking forward to hearing more of the village gossip. You’d heard rumors of a Jedi taking down raiders all over the region when you’d gone for a drink the night before but given that the source of that information was Turgle, you were far from convinced. A Jedi would be hunted down in a minute by the Empire, especially if they used their famed weapon and left witnesses. The fisherman you sometimes saw hanging around the streams, Skoova, had however confirmed that there was indeed a newcomer hunting down raiders for sport.

He hadn’t been very talkative, only describing him as a short-haired man of average height that fought in a poncho. You didn’t know how you felt about someone wearing a poncho on a desert planet, though you did find humor at the idea of the raiders getting their ass kicked by some new guy in a raincoat. Either way, if there was a chance that this not-a-Jedi-even-though-Turgle-says-he-is guy had arrived here by ship, you wanted to find out more no matter his unusual taste in clothing.

You entered your workshop after the long walk back from the prospectors, bracing for the intolerable heat of your metal cage. You stored what little you’d brought back in its rightful place and dragged your feet to your worktable, ready to start working on another tool a prospector had given you to fix. You remembered distantly that Cal still hadn’t swung by to pick up BD-1’s new case.

You peeked inside the drawer and found it empty of the custom case. There were a few credits in there, thankfully enough to cover the material you’d used for the case, plus a couple more. Despite the much-needed money, you couldn’t help but feel disappointed. Of course, the one day you left your workshop had to be the one when he decided to come here. You sighed and pushed the drawer away, rubbing your eyes with your palms, hoping (and doubting) that he would visit again. You didn’t even know what region of Koboh he was from, you didn’t recognize his accent at all.

A glimpse of white caught your eye before the drawer shut completely. You reached towards the unknown object and found a folded note that you were sure hadn’t been in therebefore you left. You opened it and didn’t immediately recognize the handwriting.

-

Thank you for the case, BD-1 is practically begging for a couple more designs (to match my ‘rizz’ - I have no idea what that means. He convinced me to wear an old grey poncho I had just so we matched and I fear giving in to the different colored cases will be the start of a slippery slope, but how could I say no to the little guy?)

I’ve gone off-track – What I mean to tell you is that if you still want to leave Koboh, there will be a ship (it’s mine) at the landing pad until 1500 tomorrow. Bring what you need, but I have all the essentials on board. Food and water I mean, and maybe I have a spare toothbrush somewhere too?

Anyway. We’ll figure it out.

I can drop you off somewhere if you want, but I wouldn’t mind a mechanic on board if you’re interested. Can’t guarantee regular hours or absolute safety but hey, still more interesting than metal detectors, right?

This might be my last visit to Koboh in a while.

P.S.: BD-1 wants you to know you’re the only one allowed to fix his leg, and that he ‘requires you on board’. His words, not mine. He shot an electric dart at the last person who tried to repair it (me).

Cal

-

You couldn’t help but let out a loud celebratory shout as you read. He had a ship, and you were finally getting out of here! No more prospectors whining at the time it took to fix their tools, no bedlam raiders trying to kick through your door in the middle of the night, no need to refill your water supply from the well that stood well over a mile away.

You’d happily make BD-1 a thousand little metal outfits to match Cal’s ponchos if he wanted-

Your mind screeched to a stop. Hadn't that been the outfit Skoova mentioned?

You remembered what Turgle said about the second newcomer, the one he had called a Jedi. You didn’t remember ever reading about that order using guns, but… Cal had been carrying another weapon. The metal handle, you now realized, that was hanging at his side.

Oh kriff.

Had the idea while building the BD-1 Lego set. I meant for this to be just a little 1k meet-cute oneshot, Of course, me being me, i wrote 5k. Edited it a little, and it's as short as I can tolerate lmao

My first time posting for Star Wars! Still not over Survivor despite having played it more than 100 hour in the first two weeks i got it, and having done reruns since. The double-bladed stance has me in a chokehold.

Tell me what you think, and check out my masterlist!

[pod-together]

Pod-Together Day 2 Reveals 2024

coal-fire heart (The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry - Anonymous (Song)) written by Aether, performed by Beryllinthranox Summary: The sea was the perfect wind-roughened blue, the kind that made her want to take a deep breath and step over the rail and into the deep.

Today’s Top Story: An End to the Plagues? [text, audio] (Good Omens (TV)) written by BookGirlFan, performed by 1happydaiz Summary: “Good morning, and welcome to Ancient Egypt News. Our top story this morning, the Israelites, and the plagues they have brought on our nation. This morning, families all across the capital have woken to the news their eldest son has died during the night. Abubakar, our man on the ground, coming to us live from the streets with more.”

Convergence (Stray Kids (Band)) written by Chanlixbolt, performed by InterstellarBlue Summary: con·ver·gence /kənˈvərj(ə)ns/ noun noun: convergence; noun: convergency Convergence is when two or more things come together to form a new whole, Chan finally gets out of his head about his feelings, and Hyunjin and Jeongin start wooing him with utter enthusiasm.

Gritty Thoughts (Men's Hockey RPF) written by FandomisOhana, performed by eafay70 Summary: Thoughts on Gritty!

That's not how it happened! (Shadowhunters (TV)) written by Hagar, performed by kittona Summary: In which Magnus tells a story to Jace and Clary's kids - and everyone has opinions.

That Clear and Simple Path (Merrily We Roll Along - Sondheim/Furth) written by klb, ShakespeareStoleMyURL, and rockinhamburger, performed by horchatapods, elledubs, klb, and ShakespeareStoleMyURL Summary: Three phone calls, the night (and then the day) after Frank's party. A podfic musical.

Dirt Cake. Because Why Not? (One Piece (Anime & Manga)) written by ScarletSorceress, performed by stereden Summary: Thatch really thought he'd learned his lesson about Ace and 'cakes'. Mainly that, if Ace wanted him to bake a cake, it would never be a normal cake. The first one had pork in it. The second was an actual war crime. Now the third one...had dirt in it? What occasion could Ace possibly plan for that required a dirt cake??? Well, Thatch was just going to have to make it to find out. Yay...

Dare Me to Tell You the Truth (Hacks (TV 2021)) written by schwanenkoenigin, performed by wilfriede0815 Summary: Ava desperately wants to get Deborah to play Truth or Dare with her. Deborah tries to resist.

just the rules of the game and the rules are the first to go [text, audio] (魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù) written by unitaryexectheory, performed by Gavilan Summary: "A'Yu, A'Yu..." Nie Huaisang sighed."Not even my own sect brothers call me Nie-zongzhu." He pouted, but Mo Xuanyu didn't speak, looking guarded. "The only Nie-zongzhu was my brother and Nie Mingjue's dead." "That must have been very hard for you." Mo Xuanyu said blandly. Nie Huaisang gave a little acknowledging giggle, feeling disgust and pleasure at how Mo Xuanyu glazed past Da-ge's name. It's good. This is good, he reminded himself. So, Nie Huaisang smiled, gently placing the cup onto Mo Xuanyu's hands. The skin of his wrists and hands was a shade lighter than Nie Huaisang's own, clutching the cup lightly.

When We Meet Again (Star Wars: Jedi: Fallen Order Series (Video Games), Star Wars - All Media Types) written by xazz, performed by Ceewelsh Summary: Bode made good plans but there was a saying that even the best plans didn’t survive first contact. He’d expected he would have more time. He didn’t expect the plan to start to fall apart at his first meeting with Cal Kestis.

The Hospital [text, audio] (The Hotel (Podcast)) written by zombified_queer, performed by tipsy_kitty Summary: The Manager, Owner, and Lobby Boy have to deal with the repetition of Madam Hotel’s very tragic accident.

[believe-in-alderaan]

My husband spent the better part of last week in the hospital due to complications from a strep infection. It was the worst week of my life... and then on Friday I got a notification that someone commented on one of my first Jedi Fallen Order fics. Not only did they comment, but it was a LONG and WONDERFUL comment that brought me to tears because I needed morale boost so much. So don't forget, if a fic is 'old', the writer still wants to hear from you. ❤