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crosshairs-dumb-pimp-gf · 26 days ago

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Disgrace Chapter 10 : Crosshair x F!OC

Discovery can be an odd thing, sprung on you when you least expect it. You uncover what's in the shadows and dust, learn things about yourself. Deep underground, the forgotten halls hum with secrets and oaths. While our protagonists leave their feelings in the hands of gods, they may not be alone as they dive through the sacred chambers.

Chapter Specific Warnings: Smut, Oral (m & f rec.), Road Head, Thalassophobia, Vore, Gun Fights, Blood & Injury, Gratuitous Nudity, PiV sex, Angst. Fucking that man in new and interesting places.

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Authors Notes: Where did this chapter come from and why does it exist. I dunno. Can you pinpoint when I started trying to use a tablet again? And then can you spot when I smashed my finger and still tried to muscle through it? lol.

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Word Count: 12135

Dynamic: Princess x Guard, Speed running Co-dependancy, A Mangy Cat and his Aggressive little Chihuahua. She's a damsel, she's in distress- she can handle it. Murder is his love language.

<-Previous Chapter - Read On Ao3 {START HERE}

Music Inspo- Temple of Love, Sisters of Mercy

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Chapter 10: Temple of Love

Our monotonous journey continued after the brief nap and quiet kisses in the dark. Now the cacophonous sound of the speeder in the tight tunnel was punctuated by the occasional tapping of the trunk hood, the passing air catching under the ruined folds of metal.

Crosshair tied it shut with the cord I couldn't believe he kept from the pod freighter, but there it was, tapping where the locking mechanism was smashed in.

The new sound was starting to grate on my nerves.

Tap. Tap-tap, tap.

I needed to distract myself before I started ripping my hair out. Unfortunately the only thing I had to occupy myself with…

My eyes focused on Crosshair.

We hadn't been moving all that long but once the idea had me there wasn't much use resisting it. I scooted a little to lay down, putting my head in Cross's lap and hooking the hem of his pants with my fingers.

An amused tone lit through him, rumbling in my ear as he stroked my hair.

“Making things more interesting?”

“Not sure anyone could do that, just more… stimulating,”

“Indeed,”

“It's easier to hear you like this,”

“Want me to talk to you?”

“Sure,”

“That doesn't sound committed,”

My brows rose but I wasn't sure he saw,

“Yes, please talk to me,”

He chuckled as I tugged his fly open to expose his shaft, already looking thicker from the promise of my attention. Licking him while still soft, I slicked his skin thoroughly before taking him between my lips. The ridge of skin protecting the flare of his head was more prominent at this stage and I toyed my tongue against it pulling it with my teeth to a sharp inhale from Cross.

“Mm, good girl,”

It was easier to slide him into my throat like this but that was quickly changing. His member pulsed in my mouth as blood rushed him. I pushed his head past the barrier of my tonsils before he was fully hard, delighting in the popping sensation that was turning into a subtle stretch as he became engorged.

“That feels nice, Tahny…”

His fingers were ensnaring my hair and I could hear a small creaking from the steering where his knuckles tightened on the plastic. Crosshair's cock was rock hard now as he pushed my head down to grind into the soft palate at the back of my throat.

I tapped his thigh and he relented, allowing me some shallow breaths before I continued, focusing more on stimulating the sensitive ridge of his head.

He was moaning soft little praises as my tongue flicked over him, making his leg twitch as I hit a sensitive spot. I honed in on it, pressing the tip of my tongue to rub firmly against it.

The whine that escaped him sent a white hot wave through my core. I needed to make him do it again, and zeroed in on his weak spot, causing him to jerk under me.

The speeder swerved slightly but he got it under control.

“Kriff, Tahny, careful…”

But his hand was rough in my hair, bobbing me over his shaft while his hips gently rocked in a steady rhythm, using my mouth to his content.

His breath hitched and caught in his chest as he pushed into my tongue with a final groan, filling my mouth with thick, sticky seed. I sucked till his twitching ceased, forcing a few more docile whimpers from the man with a death grip on the steering console.

Rolling over peevishly, I looked up from his lap with my mouth open, showing my tongue slicked with him before swallowing in a showy fashion. His eyes were glued to me, trying to think of something to say,

“Least your’re getting your protein…”

I snorted, sitting up abruptly.

“Hot.”

“Sorry… brains a little offline,”

“Uh huh”

Now that I was sitting up, my hair whipped about my face and I felt the velocity of our movement in a sudden pull.

“Cross, how fast are you going?”

“Mm”

Crosshair glanced at the dash with a shrug.

Before he could answer me properly, the walls of the tunnel fell away from us. The level tunnel had spit us out into a new cavern. We had found the end of the glacier flow with an eruption of water splashing the sides of the car.

“Nevermind, floor it,”

There was nothing under us but crystalline, glassy water, the speed of our vehicle propelling us over the surface. The slight amount of light from the Iotryke only lit the lake in flickers but the water seemed to glow. It stretched out wide to either side of us before being cut abruptly by steep walls. Our passing made an impressive wake that disturbed the pristine surface. Neither the waves nor the flickering lightning could conceal how deep the subterranean lake really was, opening beneath us like an inky maw. There was only one way to go, the light reflecting off a bank of sand in the distance.

Crosshair depressed the fuel pedal as far as it would go. It was important we didn't lose momentum.

I gripped the dash, holding my breath as the speeder closed the distance between us and the distant shore.

…

Fwoom

A fountainous wake erupted as Cross spun us against the bank, distributing the energy of the vehicle as it once more was forced to a stop in the sand.

I was soaked, and the water was freezing!

Shivering, I looked to my companion. His hands were crossed over the top of the steering, head laid against them also dripping and shaking.

No… he was laughing. Honest to Be'llahl, soft laughter was coming from him and he sat back throwing an arm over the seat and rubbing his face with the other hand.

“I thought we were dead this time.”

He finally breathed, shaking his head in disbelief.

“Funny, I was sure the last one got us.”

“Maybe we died a while ago…”

I exhaled sharply in dark amusement,

“Nothing yet to prove the contrary.”

“Mm, was it a good death?”

That was something to think about…

“Not sure falling in a pit after the big shootout is the best way… kind of embarrassing, actually,”

My brow furrowed. We weren't dead of course, but if we didn't find a way through the caves and back to civilization we may as well be. I definitely don't want to be remembered as having fallen in a pit and died.

My mind had wandered, but snapped back to attention when I realized Cross had lifted himself out of the seat and was leaning on the dash, looking out over the subterranean lake.

“Look at that,”

He tilted his head towards the glowing streaks drifting into the v shaped gap left by our tear across the lake's surface. Apparently the passing had scared off these creatures which were… what exactly?

I got out of the car, walking carefully to the edge where sand met water.

The glowing… things, looked like massive bundles of cords, clumped together and floating lazily without any indication it was any more than a plant, except for the reaction to the speeder.

There was a sharp tap to the small of my back and I jumped, nearly falling into the icy pool. Crosshair's arms caught my waist with a chuckle as I swore at him, arms still flailing slightly.

“I don't fancy falling into one of those… things,”

I glanced back down at the water, there were other reasons to not want to fall in. The pool dropped off steeply, the lake being a water filled ravine that seemed bottomless from where I stood. The glowing cord fish did nothing against the darkness of the depths. I pushed back against Cross, shivering from more than the cold.

“Can't you swim?”

It was whispered teasingly into my ear as he felt me lean away from the water’s edge.

“I can swim just fine… don't tell me you don't find that view…”

I peered into the bottomless, icy water,

“... Unsettling?”

He shrugged against my back.

“More interested in that one…”

He pointed back across the lake, to one of the water channels burrowing into the cavern. There was the faintest light filtering in, a warm steady glow unlike the flickering false lightning. Moonlight.

“There's no way we’re reaching that,”

The particular opening was high up in the cave walls on the opposite side of the lake from us.

“No, but it means there's breaks in the stone, Maybe we'll find more through there.”

He jerked his head behind us, and for the first time I tore my eyes from the water to take in where we ended up.

The shore was relatively shallow, light blue sand powdery underfoot. Rocky walls made an inlet, almost a lagoon if it weren't completely open to the lake's deep drop off. The height was impressive, making the surface far above us… but the walls…

There were large carved pillars recessed in the rock walls, open indents that might have held carved reliefs or statuary. Script was carved into the layers of stone, making intricate patterns. Wherever we were, it was man made. I couldn't decipher the old Ga'haiian, but I could recognize one pattern.

Be’llahl

“This shouldn't be here…”

“Yet, it is.”

“There's nothing about sub terrestrial temples in the mountains,”

“Would there be?”

“Yes! Ga’hah’s history is unbroken… if there were a temple here it would have been documented!”

I was indignant, and yet, as stated… here it was.

“It could have been hidden on purpose,”

Chewing on that notion, I plodded through the soft, dry sand to the central indent that should be the entrance. The stone here was rough where the shapes were chiseled into the cavern wall. There had to be a way to open it. I ran my hand along the edge of the indent where smooth grooves wore at the carved door. It slides… up…or down.

Crosshair went back to the speeder, untying the trunk to retrieve the empty canisters. I watched as he started to rinse and fill them with water. Good idea.

While he busied himself I let myself become engrosses in examining the carved rock face. The reliefs that had been worn smooth still held some familiar imagery… the hands of Be'llahl holding the gifts of art and leisure, raised stars and lush leaves… but all in patches.

Splash!

My spine tightened at the loud slosh of water. I turned on my heel to find Crosshair surfacing from the freezing lake.

“Idiot!”

I stomped to the water's edge,

“What do you think you're doing?”

My voice hissed from me. Though there was no need for quiet, it was a compulsion brought by my unease.

“Get out, right now!”

Crosshair only smirked at me.

“Not till you get in,”

He was doing well to disguise the chatter of his teeth as he stroked the water, keeping himself abreast the calm surface.

“That's not happening! Those things…”

“Are scared of us,”

The glowing snares of tendrils were drifting away from the disturbed water… such an instinct didn’t exactly ease my mind.

“It's much too cold, Cross, and you've nothing to keep you warm…”

I toed the black bottoms discarded on the shore.

“You'd better hurry then,”

Irritating.

“Fine. Freeze.”

I sat in the sand, glaring at his smug face bobbing on the water.

“Oh no, I'm drowning.”

It was a sarcastic drawl and I sniffed in annoyance, raising my chin as he melodramatically lowered himself below the rippling surface.

One beat. Two.

“Very funny asshole,”

Three beats… four.

I had no doubt he could hold his breath, but my instincts were hammering my brain despite my attempts to soothe myself with logic. The trick was working, winding me tight.

Curse him.

“Crosshair.”

I scooted forward to look down into the lake. It was clear, but filled with dark shadows as the distant glow of the cord fish was cut and refracted by the water.

“Cross. Hair.”

I slapped the surface, causing a small splash.

He didn't emerge from the shadowy water.

Perhaps he actually died, pulled off by some undercurrent or sucked up by some creature. Surely following him would be incredibly stupid, and yet I was undoing the ties on the leather vest, dropping the meager coverings and the things he had already discarded into the back of the speeder.

If he's not dead I'm gonna kill him.

I hopped into the water. Toes pointed to drop some below the surface, catching my self with my arms before going too deep. Tentatively, I cracked an eye open, it didn't sting much, so I squinted, scanning my surroundings.

The craggy rocks below the surface seemed to stretch and laugh in the ethereal dancing light. The shadows were deep, and I struggled to make out any outlines with my blurred vision. Still no Crosshair.

Real dread started to creep up on me. I needed to surface already and kicked upwards. Something wrapped about my ankle, tugging me back down with a jerk before releasing me.

Prick.

My heart pounded with sudden adrenaline as I kicked to the surface, gasping air. My body was starting to shake from the cold, making it hard to tread water as I spun, looking into the depths to catch the shadow surfacing near me.

“N-not… f-f-funny… touch-tough guy,”

The vitrol was caught in the rattling cage of my ribs, all that escaped was a stuttering whine as I weakly batted against the slim chest of the laughing man. He scooped me to him, and I clung to the slight bit of warmth.

“You must be mad… haven't called me that sinc-”

He was cut off by a sudden cracking against the sand. Blaster bolts fired rapidly, hitting with fountains of powdery blue dust feet from us.

“Deep breath!”

The command came fast and sharp, I barely had time to comply before being tugged below the water again.

Cross tucked us into an alcove in a rocky leeway before the lakes deep dropoff. I squinted at his blurry outline, his neck craned to scan upwards.

Can… can he see anything like this?

Holding my breath was never my forte, and my lungs started to burn. I tapped his arm desperately… we couldn't stay here forever. He stooped, grabbing a chunk of broken rock from the crevice, and motioned for me to follow.

With a bend of his knees, he propelled himself quickly to the surface. I followed suit, slightly behind with less muscle to push me.

I surfaced, blinking water from my eyes in time to see Crosshair launch the stone shard at a scanner droid. It fell with a sputtering sizzle before smashing into the soft sand. Cross was already moving, a broad front stroke headed towards the speeder and his weapons. Someone was watching us.

How did they find us down here?

I splashed after him. A bolt hit the water ahead of me flecking hard, forceful droplets across my skin. Another shot, barely missing…

The light from the lake was refracting wildly from the frantic disturbance. I gasped as my feet finally sank into sodden sand, pushing against it to throw myself behind the speeder.

Cross was already there, yanking the back door open to grab the Firepuncher and helmet from the floor. A quick check of the gun and his helmet was on. He scanned over us with the infrared, looking for the assailant.

“Can you see them?”

“Not yet. Get under the car.”

He emphasized with a push from his trigger hand, encouraging me to slide under the hovering vehicle. I wedged myself along the long side closest to Crosshair, looking up at him past the rim of the doors overhead.

It was an odd sight, the man positioned over me. Water still beaded down his skin, nude besides his helmet, which was completely focused on our deadly predicament. I watched as a droplet trailed down the tight muscle of his neck and felt a stir in me, a compulsion to suck the water from his skin.

Time and place…

Shots scattered across the side of the speeder and Cross dropped a moment before returning fire.

I waited, tense…

Whoever was shooting was waiting for us to make a move, not wanting to give their position away while we still had the advantage of cover.

“Tahny…”

Don't say it…

“I'm gonna need you to do something…”

Damn it all.

“Where do you need me, Cross,”

“They have eyes on me, get to the front of the speeder…”

He slipped his belt from the back to the sand, a single mirror still clipped to its holder.

“Toss this. Hard as you can to the other end of the shore. Stay covered as much as possible.”

I pulled the belt to me, wondering how I was supposed to throw it somewhere useful.

Wiggling my hips, I scooted back to slide out from under the hood, opposite where the shots came from. I couldn't see Cross behind the opened car door, but the barrel of his rifle was resting on the seat. He was scanning the wall lines near the cracked tunnel open to the moonlight.

“Here goes nothing.”

I whispered, adjusting the belt in my hand to hang like a sling. A deep breath later and I was up whipping the projectile away from me.

I was back down before I could see it land. A sharp ping and a smell of hot metal signaling a shot landing right where I had appeared. It took them too long to adjust to my position though and Crosshair had what he needed.

A quick series of shots raced from the seat of the speeder. A crack, then a small explosion erupted across the ceiling. Burning debris scattered, falling the immense distance from the outcrop of stone it was concealed behind. A figure, clad in wisps of black fabric, smoldered through the debris, falling faster than the rest towards the glowing water.

The school of effulgent tendrils hadn't reacted to the overhead light show, more concerned with avoiding the still churning water near the shore. As the figure hit the lake with a towering jet of displaced water, the cave exploded with light and crackling sound. Arching energy shot across the lake's surface, bouncing away till it was absorbed by the conductive Iotryke.

A sickening scream pierced the echoing chamber.

They're still alive…

We had both stood without thinking to watch. Crosshair still had the rifle, but the helmet was once again discarded. We drifted to the edge of the water.

The figure struggled, trying to swim away from the stinging cords it was tangled in, another shriek ripping through them as electricity arched through the fish that had them.

We watched them struggle in the middle of the lake, too far to help, but nowhere to escape the sounds of their pain. Or was there?

I turned away from the writhing assassin in the water, the hallowed walls catching my eye. They had begun to glow along the carved channel designs, the zap reengaging the system that controlled it.

Tapping the soldier's elbow I carefully approached the door indent again. He took a moment to tear his eyes away from the splashing mess to follow, trailing behind me slowly, scanning the glowing walls.

The writing was still mostly indecipherable, but the design was, as Kahtzi would say, “user friendly.” Glowing lines outlined and encircled a square of stone that now protruded slightly from the column about where a press panel should be.

I pushed it, the stone depressing unexpectedly smooth. A loud whine rose over the pained shrieks of our assailant, and mechanical clicks echoed out through the cavern. The door panel split horizontally along an invisible seam, sliding into the floor and ceiling with a grind of stone over stone.

Air rushed past us, as if a great giant was drawing breath, swiftly filling the opened passage that now lay ahead.

A new hum filled the cave as a second hovercraft zoomed into the cavern from the moonlight. Cross swung his scope up to track them, but they ignored us for now, dropping fast for the water and their flailing partner.

The next moments seemed to happen in slow motion... As Crosshair made to pull the trigger a large shadow erupted out of the darkened depths of the lake. The round released, blaster bolt smacking into the sleak, dark bodied thing who's jaws widened over the soaked and tangled assassin, lifting them from the water on its tongue.

Their fingers desperately brushed those of their partner, dangling from their position to reach for them, before they were falling again. The long, toothy mouth snapping shut on the figure with a dreadful crunch before splashing back into the water. Waves crashed onto the shallow shore, the small tide washing around our ankles, threatening to pull everything we had scattered on the sand into the water.

I dove for the belt, Cross grabbed his helmet and then shots were fired on us, spraying me with sharp sand as we dove back toward the dark shaft in the wall.

The door slammed shut behind us, but it wouldn't keep them off our backs for long. The passage led to a stone walkway, a bridge, over wide gaps that plunged down the rock face. Water flowed through ports in the walls falling in a thunderous roar to the chasm below. Occasionally a glowing bundle of cord fish squeezed through the channel, bathing the odd corridor in momentary brilliance.

There was no time to marvel as we tore down the walkway. The sand that clung to us was the only traction on the slippery stone, our bare feet making soft patters that echoed off the flickering walls as we ran.

Crosshair had slipped his helmet back on, slowing to watch behind us as we closed in on a second arched doorway. I clipped his belt to me and scanned the frame, looking for the next switch. There was a grinding mechanical whine as the door at the entrance opened.

The rifle fired as Crosshair got sights on the pursuers silhouette. They darted back and I hit the button to let us through into the next chamber.

Crosshair stayed, taking cover within the framed entrance, defending the only way in.

I stayed close, leaning against the smooth stone walls. My breath was still as we listened. It would be stupid for them to come in for us…

Cross fired, an answering shot went wide and the clone stood.

“They went over when I hit them… I need to make sure the job is finished. Stay here.”

He slipped back through, his barrel pointed over the side of the rocky ledge. I watched from the door frame, guiltlessly taking in his musculature as he worked.

A blaster fired from under the walkway, Cross jerked but it was off by meters. Instead it struck a deposit of Iotryke, alight with lightning. It was a lucky shot, the destabilized crystal exploding from the external energy. Crosshair dispatched the assassin as the fragments rained down on him.

Shink

“Arhg-kaark!”

“Crosshair!”

I made to run to him but he motioned for me to stop. Glittering debris was still falling about him. There was a sharp chunk sticking from his shoulder. He stood still, I stood frozen, and the crystal shards settled with tinks and clatters on the stone. Finally, I ran to him, picking my way through the shrapnel littered path.

He took his helmet off, letting it hang from his hand while he observed the sliver of glass like crystal stuck into his shoulder.

“Did it hit your joint?”

“I don't think so…”

He winced, moving it to see.

“Don’t do that… just … hold on, I have that bacta spray, just… don't pull it out.”

He sighed, but resigned, watching me jog back to the speeder with my arms crossed over my meager chest.

I grabbed my bag with a sharp tug to dislodge it. As it came free from whatever it was snagged on, I stumbled backwards, tripping over something in the sand. My butt came to a soft thump onto the beach, and I harrumphed at the bit of metal that was the culprit. It was the drone droid that had fired on us in the water.

The droid popped with a little spark, sputtering in a fearful garble. A soft beeping came from a little display over its no longer functioning turret.

I took both it and my bag back to the waiting clone.

“Why did you bring that?”

“It's still alive…”

“Those things aren't living.”

The sudden bite in his temperament I'd chalk up to pain…

“You wanna sit or do I have to climb up there?”

He paused as if to weigh the options and I rolled my eyes, tugging him gently down with me.

Gingerly, I pressed the skin around the abtrusion trying to determine how far into the muscle it had plunged. A rivulet of blood weld from the wound and drew a line down his bicep. I swallowed hard. Was never a fan of blood, but blood from someone I gave a shyte about never failed to make me ill.

Pulling the bag closer, I carefully dumped it over looking for the small canister of bacta from the safe house. It was light when I finally lifted it from the scatter and I cursed when I saw the fill line. There wasn't enough to completely close a wound like this.

“I don't need the bacta, we should save it, I won't bleed out from this…”

“Oh, so your plan is to die of an infection, leaving me to starve by myself?”

“You'll have twice the food,”

“Half the man power, know how, and of course only your corpse for company,”

“You’d drag me along?”

“How else am I supposed to make sure we're in a cool pose?”

“Entwined together?”

“Not if you die first… sicko.”

I had been scanning the meager supplies trying to see if there was something to at least rig a tourniquet. A little box glinted in a passing glow.

“Stitch!”

“Excuse me?”

I snatched the tiny utility droid up and quickly switched his power back on.

“Hey, little buddy…”

The droid yawned, stretching it's little arms and blinking… before making a panicked little squeal as it looked about the cave.

01001001 00100000 01100100 01101111 00100000 01101110 01101111 01110100 00100000 01110111 01100001 01101110 01110100 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01100010 01100101 00100000 01101000 01100101 01110010 01100101

I still didn't know what it was saying, but I'd note that as the exact opposite as the ‘affirmative’ whistle.

“Hey, hey now, it's okay…”

01010111 01101000 01100101 01110010 01100101 00100000 01100001 01110010 01100101 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01110010 00100000 01100011 01101100 01101111 01110100 01101000 01100101 01110011

Now it was looking at me, it's little hover engine kicking on to circle me quickly.

“Yeah… Stitch? We have a problem,”

It looked about, seemingly confused since there were no clothes for it to work on.

“Here…”

I directed it's attention to the crystal dagger stuck in Crosshair's shoulder.

01010100 01101000 01100001 01110100 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01101110 01101111 01110100 00100000 01101001 01101110 00100000 01101101 01111001 00100000 01110000 01110010 01101111 01100111 01110010 01100001 01101101 01101101 01101001 01101110 01100111

The droid seemed flustered, but hovered about the shard.

01010111 01101000 01100001 01110100 00100000 01001001 00100000 01100100 01101111

There's my eager sounding helper.

“I'm going to spray, then you're going to cauterize the skin so it stays closed,”

“It's going to what?”

01000101 01100001 01110011 01111001

Stitch bobbed with an affirmative, one of its little arms flipping to brandish it's vibroblade attachment.

“Come now, Crosshair… I know you've had worse,”

I traced a few of the glossy scars already marking the taught bicep, a move that probably would've been more appreciated without the intrusive penetration.

He grimaced and the fight left him, resigning himself to my mercy.

“Time to get this out of you,”

I muttered to myself, psyching myself up to the task at hand.

Deep Breath

“I'm going to take it out now…”

Stitch hovered closer poising the little blade attachment over the torn edge of skin.

I pinched gently around the shard, positioning my fingers to hold the skin how it was, and carefully unsheathed the crystal from the muscle. I started spraying the second the shard was freed, clattering as I dropped it, ghosting over Stitch’s knife as the wound was flooded with blood. The canister ran dry and I dropped it, pinching the skin closed and applying pressure while the droid worked. I watched Crosshair's jaw flex as the knife made careful contact, Stitch connecting the skin as skillfully as fabric.

Good boy.

It was done. Let's hope that was enough to actually close it, the little bacta there was should work on connecting the tissues within.

“You want to keep this?”

I brandished the sharp quartz at the soldier with a shaking hand. He grabbed it, tossing it over the edge in a single quick motion.

…

“Better?”

“...not really. I probably should have kept it,”

“Well, you'll always have the scar,”

The corner of his mouth quirked, but his eyes went distant as he slipped into a thought.

“They’re tracking us somehow…”

I followed his gaze down to the silent, partially smashed droid.

Stitch also now noticed the mangled robot and dropped slightly at the shock. It made an exaggerated show of yawning before tucking back into the bag, pulling it's limbs in with a snap.

Tough day for a sewing droid.

I looked back at the scraping sound of metal as Cross pulled the smashed droid over to himself. He ripped it's casing open to pull the display into clearer view.

There was a pulse beating through the screen. Crosshair stood and walked to the door we came through, eyes locked on the display, then wandered back… slowly.

He snatched up the travel pack and I dove for the little utility droid as it fell and clattered across the walk way.

“Hey, careful!”

But he wasn't listening, searching the inner pocket of credits and then the border hems. His fingers slowed over the tag sewn to the inner lining, a rough edge where it wasn't connected properly any more… and pulled out a tiny, blinking rod.

“...oh,”

“Oh, indeed. We should have checked this sooner,”

He crushed the little stick in his fist with a frustrated growl and knelt to me, reaching for something in his belt.

It was the data stick we took from the assassin in Nohct. He pressed it on and looked over the list of names again. Ours still read ‘Active’ and he peered over the side of the precipice.

“Neither body is recoverable… can't say how many there are out there looking. Either of them could have had the master list but I doubt it.”

He checked the droid display again, making sure the tracking pulse had stopped.

“We should move, more might be clever enough to figure out we're underground from the last coordinates,”

“Back to the speeder?”

He looked over his shoulder again, thinking…

“Let’s see what's up ahead first… we don't want it to get stuck but we'll have to move it eventually. Too easy to spot from that open tunnel,”

I nodded absently, already collecting the spilled contents of the pack to move on.

“We should at least get our clothes,”

I stood, gesturing to his belt at my hips, the only thing adorning me at the moment. He stepped back to look me over, pretending to weigh the options.

“I think you'll be fine like that,”

“Oh, you do? And if there's more assassins through there?”

“Didn't take you as being shy,”

He was smirking, challenging me, standing aside to gesture that I could go get dressed if I wanted.

How can you be wounded and still be such an ass?

“Tch”

I padded up the walkway to the unexplored entrance… naked. Why I fell for his goading was beyond me…

The door ground open again and I stepped through, this time looking about the new room.

More carved stone, a long and wide hall. Water sat in shallow square pools divided by smooth stone walkways that turned the floor of the hall into a grid. The main of these passages were lined with tall, square columns supporting the Iotryke ceiling.

I walked to the side of one of the pools looking through the shimmering surface at the tiled mosaic magnified through the still water. My face grew hot when I realized the art was of figures intertwined, surrounded by food and drink. They looked wracked with bliss, the content expressions obvious even through the blocky medium.

Temple of Be'llahl indeed.

“That looks fun,”

Hummed into my hair as he stood behind me to take in the watery artwork.

“It's fascinating…”

I sank to my knees to get a closer look, trying to make out what the tiles were made of, the ancient fruits represented.

“I wish I had my recorder… this is an impressive find.”

“Maybe you need a set of goggles, record everything you see,”

“If only… don't think goggles would suit me though,”

I reached out, flicking the surface of the pool to make the water ripple. To my surprise, blue white light sparkled into luminosity from the point of contact, lighting the pool. The rippling water cast an illusion of animation over the mosaic relief. Clever. Cross made an appreciative noise as the art seemed to move in front of us. I heard him pad over to a different pool, flicking it as I had to make the water light and dance. His pool showed a new image, a different… novel position.

We spent some time investigating the hall, lighting mosaics as we went to temporarily glow and illuminate the room.

“I want to try this one,”

Cross draped himself over me playfully to gaze into the pool holding my attention.

“Not with a fresh tear in your deltoid,”

“It already feels better,”

I lightly tugged his injured arm, causing him to hiss between his teeth.

“Sure it does.”

I swung out from under him, but he caught my wrist and spun me back, pulling me till my breasts were pressed to his ribs.

“I said it's fine, and I want you… so come here,”

He hoisted me up, pressing his lips roughly to mine in a vicious kiss, challenging me to match his ardor… I had ideas for a new game.

Leaning against his weaker arm to loosen his grip, I shoved away from him. Bolting down one of the narrow channels between the shallow pools. I sent a light, chiming laughter back at his confused and frustrated expression.

It only took a second for him jump into play, and I marveled at how soft his footsteps were on the stone as he pursued me. He was quiet, but fast, and would over take me quickly if I kept going straight. Pivoting down a perpendicular path I put a few pools between Cross’s path and mine. When he was almost even with me, I turned around completely; heading back the way I came.

I heard him utter a vexed oath as he skidded on the stone, reversing direction just to see me zig-zag away through the grid of pools. I slowed briefly, turning to playfully kick a splash in his direction, making the disturbed water glow.

He was closing the distance fast, and I let out an involuntary little scream as he lunged barely missing me. I splashed him again laughing openly as I pushed off. He splashed back, giving chase.

The game had changed, Crosshair adding his own rules. He no longer attempted to catch me out right, pursuing at a measured distance answering my splashes with his own… watching me, only lunging when I’d teasingly dart closer to him.

I couldn't read him. Amused yes, but his eyes were different as he watched me bound from pool to pool, splashing him with glows and laughter. He was taught and poised like a predator, watchful like a guardian. I wasn't sure exactly what he was seeing…

Then he pounced.

Seeing my focus shift, a slow of my gate perhaps, he leapt over the gap, plunging through the pool to grab at my thighs.

“A~h-Cross!”

And then I was in the water too.

Spluttering I pulled myself up on the edge of the pool, in a moment a familiar heat pressed to my back arms lifting, spinning me to sit with my feet in the water. Crosshair pressed his cheek to mine, a tension in his jaw as he leaned against me.

“Always running from me,”

“Since when?”

We'd been attached at the hips since the transport exploded, the few times I was out of sight wasn't exactly by choice…

“Since the moon, you keep pulling away, only really letting me in when we're-...and it's making me sick. You're going to stop. Right now.”

“I don-”

“Yes you do, you know exactly what I mean,”

He pulled back, hesitantly raising his fingers to my cheek to run his thumb along my jaw.

“I get comfortable that you're here with me and I have you, and then suddenly it's like you're already mourning me, pulling from me, running… you're killing me… this isn't a game, Tahny. I need you to stop.”

I swallowed hard, feeling a cold chill in my skin that wasn't from the water,

“Crosshair… for now lets ju-”

He growled in frustration, turning to tear at his own temple before pinning himself over me, furious,

“Kark for now!”

Then he blinked his face softening,

“I don’t want to be another on and off lover for you…”

His eyes pinched shut, before opening again, slowly. He took a deep breath,

“What if I want to com you everyday, sneak out every night to fall asleep in your arms? What then? What if I request to be transferred to your father's battalion? What if we could make this… more?”

I stopped breathing, guilt striking through me as he pressed on.

“I know you want this too, Trust me, Tah’nyem… I think I l-”

My hand darted up, fingertips over his mouth. His brow furrowed with a look of pain that broke my heart, sending the ice from my skin deep into my bones. If I wasn't drenched from the pool my cold sweat would be obvious. He gently took my hand, squeezing my fingers while drawing them away from his lips as if he recognized the frightened animal that stared back at him,

“Don't you believe me?”

It's too soon…

“I believe you, just… hold onto it, this has all… it's all been so easy, convenient, we haven't had to fight for this yet, we don't know how hard this is going to get,”

I was speaking fast, hoping that he would understand. It was all too naive, to think we could claim such a thing… to think he could com me everyday, and sleep in my arms at night,

“This… it sounds… wonderful, Cross, but we have no idea what this is going to cost, and it won't look like other relationships… it might be too much, you have to know that we don't know,”

I reached up, pulling his face to mine, pressing my lips to his forehead begging him to understand… and he sighed,

“You call all this easy?”

He sounded annoyed but his muscles released their tension, defeated.

“Very easy… far fewer casualties than usual,”

His lip twitched and I stroked his cheek, making him sigh again against my brow,

“You do want this, don't you? I'm not just…foolish,”

There was no use lying to myself or him, I didn't want to see that look again,

“I want this Crosshair,”

“No more holding back. No more pulling from me.”

“Okay,”

“Promise?”

“I'll try,”

“Tahny.”

…

“I promise.”

He pressed to me tentatively, one kiss, another harder, and then his mouth crushed to mine. Strong hands pulled my hips, skin slipping against the wet stone to slide against him as his mouth pushed me down to lay on the edge of the pool. I mumbled against him, glad the uncomfortable feeling between us was fading as I felt him start to harden against my thigh.

He sat up, hands trailing over my shoulders and down my torso, pausing to squeeze my breast gently as he passed on his way to grip my hips. Sharp eyes followed his fingers, sliding up again to massage my navel, feeling my ribs before leaning in to kiss and whisper against my sternum,

“How hard could this really get?”

“Mm, guess it depends on how long I can hold Duhanis off, he's likely to want to keep his wives on Ga'hah… not like he could keep me anywhere, not like anyone could…”

“You think he'd still be set on you?”

“If that was all it took I would have been rid of him ages ago,”

“Honestly Tahny, if you kicked me like that I'd be more likely to want to kill you than Kriff you…”

“Yeah, that's cause you're normal, I think he's developed a thing for it over the years, besides, he wants to prove he’s not a fool for vying for so long… and then there's the rest of the suitors,”

He snorted dryly, shaking his head before fixing me with a heated, impish glare,

“Here's to your happy marriage,”

I scoffed as he slid his hand between my legs, brushing his fingers through my folds, seeking my entrance.

“That's kriffed Cross…”

Then sighed as he gently slipped a digit inside, coaxing a groan from my throat as he stoke an arousal through me. Leaning in to catch my stiffened nipple between his teeth, he inserted a second finger, working them steadily to ready me for him. His efforts were rewarded quickly as I became slick and breathy for him with only a few strokes.

“Now that I have your attention…”

He curled his fingers, putting his thumb over my vulva to hold me by my pelvis.

“What didn't you tell me on the shuttle?”

…

“What?”

“About a Reg not being an issue,”

“Huh…oh! Uh…”

I sat up on my elbows, ignoring the perverse hold he had on my groin, more concerned on where to begin. My fingers tapped a wet little tat-tu on the stone,

“Well, it's never been about the person before… for me…”

This puzzled Cross enough to release me,

“You'll have to explain that… a little better,”

Afraid of that.

I sat up further, thinking of the teasing from Kahtzi and Jar’ath.

“Well, I've never really… wanted someone. The way Kahtzi describes it, she sees someone that has even just one of a large list of qualities and she'll be attracted to them sexually, Might not pursue, but you should see the way she drools over people, and she always finds someone ‘drool worthy’ in a crowd,”

I flicked my eyes to him to gauge if he was following. He was leaning over me, listening, not yet ready to jump to a conclusion…

“I never felt that compulsion. So, I looked for other reasons to pursue sex. A novel situation, something that would make a good story or memory… but it was more the circumstances I was hot for, The person wasn't an important piece on the board,”

“Isn't this novel for you?”

“Quite. And honestly I didn't notice the difference at first, A soldier on a covert mission… interesting encounter indeed,”

“And the regs, princess?”

There was a bite in his voice, I had better get to the point…

“A novel situation isn't enough to push me into directly disobeying my Vah'hadarr’s wishes, if I was simply alone with a reg… there’d be no danger,”

“But why? Tahny, be direct cause I'm not quiet understanding where I stand in all this,”

“Because I wanted you… obviously! In a very… specific and… unique way, I feel no such compulsion with the others… I can ignore the others, I wanted you and it was almost immediate and…”

I flushed, cheeks going red.

“Enough that when told I couldn't have you it hurt, and not in a spoiled ‘I don't get my way’ kind of pain just… like I would miss something desperately important,”

And then he was kissing me, his wet skin feeling cool against my flushed cheeks. He chuckled low and breathy when our lips parted,

“Was that all? Why be embarrassed over such a thing?”

I sniffed, unhappy at him downplaying such a weight that had been on me,

“You learn to be ashamed of anything that makes you feel… abnormal,”

He grew quiet at that, understanding registering behind his eyes… but also the spark of something else.

“You've really never wanted anyone else?”

“Not like this, no… why?”

He squeezed me, a teasing tone over taking him,

“I'm your first,”

“Uhg, Be'llahl save me from your inflated ego, I change my mind, I loath you and I'm leaving,”

I began to wiggle away from him, just to be pulled back roughly,

“No you don't, and no more running,”

He firmly gripped my neck and hips to slide me back to lay on the stone again, pulling my ass against his pelvis, reminding me of his cock, firm and waiting for me,

“Didn't you just say mixing sex and vulnerability was making you sick?”

“That was stupid, forget I said it,”

“Uh huh,”

Teeth grazed over my pulse point, before he switched to hard pressed kisses on my clavicle, trailing down my chest and navel to pause before my spread thighs. I could feel his breath against the heated lips of my sex, his eyes searching for mine.

Then we jumped at the distant, but tell tale sound of the entrance door starting to grind open.

Isn't there an old saying about assassins coming in threes…

Crosshair stood with an exasperated growl, making me jump at how quickly he moved.

“What I'm sick of is all these karking interruptions, stay low, stay out of sight”

He hopped out of the pool with a splash, strutting to the Firepuncher a few pools away and I sank back into the water pressing myself to the side. I watched a moment over the edge as Cross scooped up the gun, leaning against a stone column for cover, waiting… then I dropped below the stone lip out of sight.

The chamber entrance started to move as well, the door settling into its slot. A new black cloaked figure shot into the room with a sharp whine of their strange hover craft.

A beat, two, the sharp hum of their movement growing louder, the wide open room encouraging them to increase their speed. They were almost even with us, closing the distance unreasonably fast.

I heard the Firepuncher, then felt the blast.

He must have hit the converter, turning the strange vehicle into a bomb. The small shock wave rippled the glowing pools with a snap, I could hear the receding ‘woosh’ as it made its way over the collection of water in the grand chamber. The faint glow in the room from the pools the pair of us had played in became brilliant as every surface was stirred to life.

My ears rang, a melodic humming whine…

“What's that sound?”

Crosshair was back beside me and I lifted myself out of the pool. It wasn't my ears, the room was humming. Then the chamber was shaking. Arms wrapped about my middle, pulling me to stand flush with the column as we waited for what happened next.

A grating whine rose over the humming, and a section of the floor at the center of the room began to lift. At first the dias that emerged looked hollow, arching up and wide over pillars. As what once was the floor reached the protrusion of ceiling above the lip caught onto another mechanism, lifting with it a hidden panel of stone as stairs began to rise under the dias.

As the rising column completed itself, we saw that it formed a massive staircase, wide and smooth, the parts in the floor matching up with the hidden passage in the ceiling.

“We need to get the speeder right now. We don't know how long this is going to stay open,”

I nodded, and we hightailed it back to the entrance.

~~~

The stairs were steep. Even with the head start, Crosshair had to hop out of the speeder to push as it stalled towards the top of the well, threatening to slip backwards. As the lights of the pool room dimmed, the column behind us started to drop again, closing the way back.

The incline brought us into a low hall, light filtering in from a chamber in front of us.

“How much we betting that's a way out?”

“We're closer to the surface at least…”

He kept pace next to the slow idling vehicle as I let the speeder ease it's way down the smaller corridor.

“...We might have a better chance of blasting our way through,”

“I'm sorry, do you see any explosives around?”

“Check the belt.”

Crosshair lazily took the steering so I could check the pouches of his belt still latched about my hips.

“You're kidding me,”

I grumbled, popping open the pouches systematically.

Toothpicks, tracers, a bit of silk an- wait, hang on…

Going back one, I withdrew the square of fabric that had adorned the breast pocket of his dinner wear. The small glass bottle of perfume carefully wrapped inside… I hadn't realized he remembered to grab it.

“Keep looking,”

I shot him a glance, putting the silk wrapped bottle back in place before opening the last few pouches.

“There it is,”

He reached in to withdraw a plastique disk, tossing it to revolve in the air before catching it again.

“And what's that?”

“Sticky bomb.”

“... Uh huh, and you've just had this?’

“At least one when I kit up, been saving it,”

“Lucky for us I guess,”

But he didn't respond. Light had fallen over the hood of the speeder and I looked up to see what caught his tongue. As the narrow passage opened into a wider chamber, we were confronted with something that, like the temple, shouldn't be there.

Before us stood a tree. The thick trunk silloetted by a steady glow from the passage beyond. Vine like branches stretched overhead, filling the low ceiling so that only small glimpses of the rock through the thick, plated leaves could confirm we were still underground.

“Well that's… interesting,”

Crosshair's voice was muffled, the dense vegetation absorbing the background echos our soft words had been filling the caves with. I hadn't realized how used to the noise I had been and this new silence sent a chill through my spine.

I left the vehicle, almost tripping over the high roots breaking up through the floor. Well, some of it was roots; Other bits seemed to be made up of the petrified remains of other plants and grasses, long expired, leaving only the tree. Piles of broken rock in vaguely geometric patterns painted a dim picture of a garden, paths and boxes holding various cultivations now turned to stone.

Picking my way through the detritus I examined the thick trunk at the center. There was no bark, though the vines that corded and wove around each other had hardened to a smooth brown. Bright green shoots of new growth speckled in between shriveled branches that I now saw also littered the floor in a peat at the tree's base.

As I craned my neck to look up through the leaves I felt Crosshair wrap his arms around my waist, tucking the disc bomb back into a pouch before pulling me to him.

“We should keep going, figure out if that light is worth getting excited for,”

“Just a second, I'm curious about what they cultivated here…”

Before he could protest, I reached up to a thick vine and found a foot hold, hoisting myself up the trunk to inspect the thick foilage above. Some of the heart shaped leaves looked bloated and smooth. I reached out and plucked one, it was heavy in my hand and I recognized the visage.

I offered it to Cross to inspect.

“Look familiar?”

“Not really…”

“Not at all?”

“... No.”

“The mosaics?”

…

“Really?”

“I wasn't looking at the food,”

Fair enough, I swung down from where I was perched on the trunk.

“I wonder if it's edible or if it was ceremonial…”

Cross raised it, poised to take a bite forcing me to catch his hand.

“Don't eat it! It could be poisonous,”

His eyes flicked to mine… then took a bite anyways, albeit a smaller one than the previous position of his jaw suggested.

“What the Kark is wrong with you?”

“Don't like being told what to do.”

I rolled my eyes.

“You don't just go around eating ancient temple fruit, what if it's hallucinogenic? Or an aphrodisiac?”

“You think it could be an aphrodisiac?”

His brow rose, lips quirked in amusement.

“Do you know who's temple you're in?”

“You'd better eat some too then,”

He pushed the fruit towards me and I made a face.

“No thank you, enjoy whatever bad trip you get,”

I turned away, just to be caught, Cross pulling me to press against him again.

“You’re gonna let me try this alone? This one fruit, rare… can probably only be found here…”

How fast he learns what buttons to press. I glared at him plucking the plump leaf looking fruit from his fingers, giving it a sniff. It smelled sweet, nothing to trigger a warning in my brain. Rotating it, I tried to look at the patterning on the skin. As I made to touch my tongue to the broken flesh, Cross sighed, exasperated at my cautious handling.

“It's not gonna bite you, I already ate some and I'm fine so far,”

I shot him a look that I hoped was piercing, taking a small nibble. It was wonderful. I almost took another bite before I caught myself. Crosshair snickered,

“See, not so bad,”

“Guess we'll see about that… but, if nothing happens we can at least take some of this with us,”

“Speaking of…”

His hands slid from my upper arms to curl around my middle,

“Should we see what's ahead… or will you stay here, with me?”

Fingers tracing lower gripping my hips.

“We really should see, if it's open ahead it might not be safe enough… to stay,”

He whined in his chest as I pulled from him, stepping around the tree to cross the cavern. The light was warm as I stepped into it, casting little spectrums up my legs as I walked. Cross wasn't far behind, the heat of him following my back like a shadow in step with me, growing darker and more defined as I walked farther into the refracted sunlight.

My hand flew over my eyes as my face came even with the brilliance, searing my vision. I blinked a few times, trying to adjust to the almost painful illumination. A cavern was starting to emerge, bathed in streaks of light emanating from directly in front of me.

A gasp slipped from me as the details of the room came through the glowing exposure. The archway opened onto a balcony, it extended into a small dias before dropping into a sudden, dry ravine… I couldn't make out how deep it was, but the gap was several meters wide.

Across the ravine was a large circular opening, flooded with light. The wall to the outside seemed like thick glass, catching and refracting the penumbral rays of sunlight as it broke over Trimecca still days of travel away.

“Stars…”

I walked to the edge of the balcony where a path extended to the light. Where the edge opened, it looked as if fingers rested on the ground. On further inspection, the bridge was roughly shaped like an extended arm, the hand crooked into the symbol of promis and extended as if to pick up whoever stepped off the dias onto the giant palm.

Knowing what I would see, I looked up, taking in the massive carving of Be'llahl, two arms raised to hold the ceiling, and a third, extending from the chest to form the bridge. Like in the forechambers I couldn't make out the letters that were carved around the glass archway. The face gave me pause, it still looked human, and male, but the mouth was open- and prongs extended from the opening… that was new.

“So that's god?”

“It appears to be a depiction of Be'llahl, yes…”

I walked to the edge, trying to see the bottom of the dark crevice, then tested the extended hand of the bridge. The rock seemed sturdy, no sound or dust of falling stone.

“You coming Cross?”

He seemed dazed by the bright chamber and kept in close step as I guided us into the palm and across the arm coming to stand in front of the glowing glass…

No not glass, Iotryke. Up close you could tell the snap of electricity apart from the refracted sunlight. The polished deposit was thick… it was hard to tell but the cross section of the stone wall looked about two meters deep.

“Shyte…”

Even using an explosive, that's a lot of quartz to blast through.

“How many of those sticky bombs do you have?”

“Just the one.”

“Great,”

“So you'll have to stay here, die here, with me…”

“You've really been romanticizing that death thing suddenly Cross, I might start getting worried,”

“All clones romanticize death,”

“Can't see why…”

I muttered sarcasticly, turning to look at him… and caught myself.

Crosshair’s eyes were dilated, more than the light coming in should have allowed. It was spooky… and were the whites more blue than before?

“You feeling okay?”

“No… we need to stay here, Tahny… please,”

He grabbed me, hands hard around my wrists an almost panicked look in his eyes.

“Hey, it's okay…”

I tried to reach up to hold his face but his head snapped back to the ravine. From this side you could see where the tree roots had eaten through the rock, probably reaching towards water unthinkably far below.

“We need to go back.”

His hold on me tightened to something painful as he yanked me in the direction of the edge.

“We’ll go back, and die together,”

“Cross!”

Panic took me instantly as he angled us to the sudden drop. I locked my grip around his arms and threw my weight backwards, rocking him back slightly.

“You said you wouldn't run anymore,”

“I think this is a little different Crosshair,”

I yanked again, my bare feet scrambling on the stone, but he lurched towards the edge again.

“No!”

I was shrieking now, trying to get through to him,

“No! Cross, no, Kark!”

We were almost there, a few more determined steps and we'd be going over.

“Good soldiers follow orders!”

My voice came out loud but ragged, guilt hitting me, he rocked to a stop,

“Good soldiers… follow orders,”

I sobbed,

“What are your orders, Cross?”

“To keep you safe…”

“Yes… yes, y-you keep me safe,”

I crumpled, wrists still held tight, I can worry about the morality of tapping his conditioning later.

“But we have to go back…”

“We can.. we can go back Cross, but let's take the long way okay… let's go back to the speeder and wait this out, yeah?”

He looked around confused.

“Take… take me back, Tahny…”

“Okay…”

I stood shakily, guiding him the few steps to the left to bring us back to the bridge. He followed, limp and compliant, but his hands holding my wrists were tight as binders.

This is why you don't eat strange fruit…

Carefully, I brought us over the ravine and back towards the tree chamber, he was right after all… we had to go back.

We collapsed on each other against the trunk of vines, Crosshair sighing in relief, pulling me down onto him as he slid to sit.

“Now, be with me…”

He nuzzled my skin, bucking his hips against my bare thighs.

“Not yet, li’nen…”

I wasn't sure why but we had to wait. He whined again,

“I need you, Tahny,”

“Shhh, soon… just relax Cross, we can soon,”

I kept talking to him, his anxiousness ebbing as we sat beneath the tree. His hands and lips wandered my skin, lighting off sparks through my nerves I tried to ignore.

“Soon li’nen,”

Eventually, he dozed off… and I too was safe to close my eyes…

~~~

“Tahny! Get up, we have to move, Now!”

I was jolted awake, Cross shifting quickly beneath me,

“Ow, oh… ow!”

I clawed at my skin, raking at the tendrils that had latched to it. They left bloody marks as they pulled off from where they were siphoning the fluid through the flesh. A raspy slithering noise filled the room and the detached roots shot back into the tree.

“Oh, varping stars!”

I struggled up with Crosshair, pulling the vines from where they suctioned to us with wet little pops and snaps. We backed away from the tree trunk towards the speeder. I was a little light headed…

“How long were we out?”

“Not very long,”

He seemed sure but there wasn't really a way to tell down here.

“We need to get out of this karken cave,”

I broke into a jog, hoping into the passenger seat and urging Crosshair to hurry as he slid in behind the wheel. The vines overhead vibrated as the tree tried to locate us with reaching tendrils.

“We still need to figure out how to blast our way out,”

“There has to be a thin spot in the wall,”

“Not where we could get to it once it's open… how did that quartz shatter earlier?”

“Pure chance, the stray bolt hit it the same time the electricity did, one in a million shot,”

“I'm definitely one in million… or three,”

I smirked at him as he angled the nose of our vehicle through the lit arch and onto the balcony dias proper. It was silly, but it seemed as if the canopy of branchy vines reached after us, only withdrawing with a quiet ‘swish’ as we crossed the threshold. I kept my eyes on the tree for a minute but it was still… turning, I found Cross staring hard at the thick deposit of quartz showing us a blurry glimpse of the outside.

“I could make the shot, shatter the crystal,”

“The arcs are almost invisible with the light coming through,”

“I can see them,”

I rose an eyebrow,

“and they're sporadic, no real pattern to speak of,”

“That won't be a problem,”

“What if a bolt isn't enough? I don't know if it'll still conduct well if it's shattered…”

He reached into the belt for the disc again.

“This would normally have a delay, but if I stick it to the quartz I can set it off at will.”

“You can?”

“I shoot it, it goes boom, so yes… should add some extra oomph,”

…

“Sure, fifty-fifty plan,”

He furrowed his brow at me as he got out of the car,

“How do you figure?”

“All plans are fifty-fifty,”

“How do you figure?”

“It either works or it doesn't.”

He snorted,

“Well now it has to work, there's just too many people I’m dying for you to meet,”

In good spirits, he jogged out over the bridge to stick the explosive to the clear wall. I smiled softly and reached into the back for my clothes.

“Uh-uh,”

Cross was by the side of the vehicle again,

“I'm not done with you yet.”

I was hoisted out of the speeder, brought to the precipice,

“I said I wanted you hours ago, and by the Maker I will have you, here,”

I was set down on the hand of the bridge,

“Now.”

“Here?”

I glanced around the stone palm that cradled us, it was wide enough, but there was no guard.

“Here… you trust me don't you?… you still trust me?”

“Have you learned your lesson with eating strange things?”

He sighed, deep and exasperated, nearly turning into a groan,

“No more cave fruit,”

Hand cupped my cheeks as he pressed his forehead to mine.

“Do you trust me, Tahny?”

I nuzzled his hands and leaned my weight to balance his,

“Of course… I trust you, but why here?”

His stubble scratched against my neck as he purred into my ear,

“It's a place of worship, isn't it?”

He reached into the belt around my hips, withdrawing a slip of gold and tucking something back into the pocket. I raised my brow as he twisted the square of fabric on its angle.

“Are you sure you trust me?”

“Yes, Crosshair,”

He smiled softly, and then, darkness. The silk tied about my head to cover my eyes.

Immediately I clung to him, not having enough time to really familiarize the space and he chuckled.

“I won't let you fall,”

Lips pressed hotly to mine, slow, deliberate kisses as his hands cradled my face. A husky whisper stirred over my ear,

“I want my name on your lips,”

“Crosshair?”

“Just like that,”

A sharp nip at my neck drawing a gasp from me.

“Ah-ah, every gasp, every twitch of pleasure…”

He bit me again, sucking the skin between his teeth.

“Crosshair…”

“Good girl,”

The kisses started to trail down my body till I could sense him kneeling before me,

“Remember Tahny,”

My thigh was lifted over his shoulder,

“Every gasp,”

His hand slipped under my ass as the other leg was lifted and I clung to him, suddenly with nothing else to ground myself.

“Crosshair?”

He snickered at the trepidation in my voice, the warm puff of air against my bare folds making me shiver as his weight shifted and I was lifted into the air as he stood.

I really clung to him now, a slight terror shifting through me as the blindfold made me feel much higher than I probably was.

“I'm not gonna let you fall… now relax, and remember who you belong to,”

Pressure rocked my hips forward, bumping my quim against his chin, he promptly lashed out with his tongue, sucking me between his lips to make me gasp,

“Crosshair,”

He moaned softly against me, focusing his attention on my clit so that I arched against him.

“Kri- Crosshair…”

He nipped me in reprimand for my almost slip, ripping a new rendition of his title from me, breathy and gasping as his licking became more intense; Strong tongue flicking against my nerves to drive me into ecstasy. His arms tightened to push me firmer against his face. The pressure building in me had my hands snaked behind his head, hips starting to rock to match his rhythm. I leaned into his strong arms as my thighs began to shake.

“Oh, Cross,”

As I got closer, his name got louder as it poured from my lips like water to splash and echo through the cavern.

It started to dawn on me what he was doing, as he carefully edged me with his mouth, pinching me sharply if I forgot my task. His name, over and over, etching it into the very muscle of my tongue to haunt me in the throes of pleasure; to follow me into any lover's embrace.

“Croo-s.. ha-hair!”

The rocking of my hips became erratic, his tongue rough against me as he groaned deep in his chest, sucking greedily at the dripping petals that ground against him.

“Crosshair, Crosshair, Crosshair,”

I bucked with each utterance sending myself over the edge till I jerked and stiffened in his hold.

His injured arm twitched and lost its grip, my hip slipping off his shoulder and I was falling backwards… for a moment. Cross catching my ribs before I fell too far and pulling me against him as I caught my breath.

“... You dropped me.”

“Did not, I caught you,”

No time to argue, his lips sealing over mine, feeding me the tang of my own sex from his tongue as he lowered us to the carved palm of Be'llahl. The carefully detailed sculpture cupped my back as Crosshair's weight gently pressed into me. I spread my knees for him, letting his hips find their familiar niche against my thighs. Blindly, I groped for his length, sighing once my fingers closed around it. He complied as I led him to my folds, our mingled breath shaking in anticipation as he pierced me. He thrust forward till he was sheathed to the hilt, then flipped us over so I was laying on his chest.

I cried out against his lips, a little scream of fear as we moved drastically on the suspended platform.

“Shh… I got you,”

He was guiding my arms to my sides to rest folded on his chest, allowing him to wrap his arms around my upper back. Despite straddling him, the position was completely docile; flat against his pecs, my ear pressed over his heart so the rushing, thumping beat was all I could hear.

He braced with his legs, using his knees to bounce our hips together. I whimpered as his cock hit deep and steady as I was held tightly against him. One hand moved from where it was wrapped about my shoulders to cradle my head stroking my hair as my body shuddered from his forceful kriffing.

“Don't. Forget… to say it, Tahny.”

His voice hummed in my head, vibrating through his breastbone straight to me.

“Cross. Ha-hair…”

“That's my girl.”

“Crosshair”

“My girl,”

He thrust faster, the ridge of his head stroking pleasure through me as he ground into the sensitive flesh gripping him. I was getting close again, and completely helpless in his otherwise tender embrace. His panting groans were so loud to me, his heart, the rushing of his breath in his lungs and the chorus bouncing off the walls around us. My voice caught, choking on his name so that all that escaped me was a prolonged hiss…

“C..Cro~s~”

I seized, and his hold on me shifted, lifting my face to claim my lips, wrapping around my hips bearing me down on him. The entirety him pressed deeply inside of me as he climaxed, filling me more.

A sharp breath through his nose as he bit at my lips, kissing hard. Then both hands were on my face, holding it to him.

“Don't ever forget. No matter what happens, don't forget this… never forget your my girl.”

He was muttering against me between kisses, incoherent streams of pleading. Free to move I reciprocated the affectionate hold, cradling his cheeks pressing my brow to his.

“Never-never…”

~~~

The steering rumbled under my fingers as I carefully aligned the speeder to the bridge, facing the glowing promise of an exit.

“You sure you want to do this? We can stay… rest of the galaxy might think we're dead anyways,”

I looked up at Cross, perched on the passenger seat, sights casually resting over the wind shield to aim at the bomb stuck to the Iotryke.

“Stay? With the tree that will eat you back? No thank you.”

He shrugged, amused with himself if not with a shimmer of disappointment. I could understand, but it was silly of him to have entertained such thoughts. My father was probably having a conniption. Someone would find us… I think…

“Get ready, princess, you might need to floor it,”

I tensed, almost forgetting to breath as he leaned into his rifle. Blind to the signals he was working with I stared straight ahead, hoping the crystal wasn't load bearing.

The shot was loud in the cavern, the reverberation coming back in a sharp snap as the red bolt darted ahead, hitting the sticky bomb-

There was a cacophony sounding of shattering glass, ripping stone and fire. It shook the walls, and dust stung my eyes as it started to pour from the ceiling.

I floored it.

The speeder, lurched forward, out over the ravine on the suspended bridge, listing dangerously to the sides as I shot us over, aiming for the sunlight. Debris rained down on us as we raced through the threshold, a ripping crack as the arm of Be’llahl collapsed.

Then we were through.

I slowed as plumes of dust rose around the speeder, chunks of rock and crystal litterered over us as we tentatively looked over our shoulders at the collapsed cavern that would have been our tomb.

“Guess it worked,”

We turned back to the sun, anxious to start the descent to even ground, ready to live again.

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@feral-ferrule @thecoffeelorian

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#the bad batch #tbb crosshair #tbb fanfiction #star wars fanfiction #crosshair x f!oc #tbb #sw oc #sw oc: tah'nyem ra #imperial crosshair #sw ff: disgrace #Spotify #oc sunday

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