Title: Coloring Outside the Lines
Main characters: Jariah Syn, Deliah Blue
Genre: Drama, romance. Canon compliant.
Timeframe: Legacy comics, between Shards and Claws of the Dragon (issues 11 & 14, specifically).
Summary: Captured and imprisoned by Nyna Calixte, Jariah Syn and Deliah Blue take comfort…in each other.
Disclaimer: LFL owns it and I write for free. All hail the brilliance of John Ostrander and Jan Duursema for creating Legacy.
A/N: My favorite crack ship which, thanks to issue #37 (Tatooine #1), may not be entirely crack. ;) :D Also, there is an adult-rated version of this on my homepage site.
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Jariah Syn was tired of Moff Calixte.
She stood in front of him, feet planted strong, pursing her red lips into a thoughtful pucker while the interrogation droid hummed in the corner. Wasn't that thing out of battery power yet? Syn glared back at the woman who was nothing to look at: pale skin, black hair and blue eyes that were as cold as Cade's.
He tried to swallow and choked instead. Couldn't think about Cade. There was blood in his mouth and he swallowed it this time without coughing.
Calixte had captured him and Deliah three days ago, demanding to know the whereabouts of Cade Skywalker. He didn't know where Cade was. Neither one of them did and they told her so. The gornt had high-tailed it off Bastion, abandoning both of them. After the first day of interrogation, Syn had sworn on his dead father's grave that he didn't know where Cade had gone and it was the truth.
This Moff shutta was relentless, though. Didn't these filthy Imps have truth serum? He knew where he could get her a vial on the black market if she'd cut him loose.
Syn shook his head and blinked, trying to clear his eyes since he couldn't move his arms, being that they were shackled to the wall.
"Why do you protect Cade?" she asked, her voice as cold as everything else about her. "You hate Jedi, Syn, and your friend lied to you. All these years, he knew you hated Jedi but he never told you what he was. And then he abandoned you. You owe him nothing."
She stepped close and reached up to touch the gash above his lip with her red manicured fingernails. "Just tell me where he is, Jariah, and this will all be over."
Blood had filled his mouth again and he spit at her, smattering that white skin with specks of red. Her eyes flared, but she didn't recoil instantly. In fact, she didn't react at all until she calmly wiped the blood from her cheek and backed away.
She had reached the door and keyed it open before she turned around. "Maybe Deliah Blue can tell me where to find Cade."
Syn's blood ran cold and his voice came out tight, "No. She doesn't know, either. Leave her alone."
Calixte cocked her head in that arrogant smirk he'd learned to dread because it usually meant that something bad was about to happen. "We'll see. I've got men with devices who will be more than willing to spend some time with a pretty girl like that."
"NO!" Syn bucked against the restraints, shredding the skin on his wrists in the process. "Don't you touch her!" But Calixte turned and left. The interrogation droid floated behind her and he was left screaming at a closed door, "Leave her alone!"
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The room was black.
He'd yelled until he was hoarse and they'd turned out the lights and left him hanging in the dark. Alone with nothing but the sound of his breathing, his mind raced and he pushed the bad thoughts out by repeating over and over again that she could take care of herself, Blue could. He'd seen it. They'd been in bad spots before and she'd never lost her cool. She could be a nasty chuffer, that girl. What was the old saying? The only thing Zeltrons do better than love is fight - or something like that. She'd be okay.
She'd be okay.
She had to be okay.
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Time had lost all meaning when the door finally opened and he squinted against the light. The shackles released with a 'click' and he fell on the floor, his legs buckling under the sudden weight of his body.
Two stormtroopers clattered forward and picked him up by the arms, half-dragging, half-carrying him into the corridor and down the hall. By the time they'd reached a plain, black door, he was almost on his feet again.
The door swished open and he was tossed into darkness again. He stumbled and fell forward, dropping to his hand and knees. The air was thick and stale, like there were no vents. Slowly, his eyes adjusted and he could see that there was one dim glowstrip overhead. The room was long enough that he couldn't see the other end and the walls appeared to be bare.
Something shuffled in the far corner and he tried to stand. Kneeling was a bad position for defense.
A voice came from the dark. "Jariah?"
"Who is it?" he whispered, his voice still not completely recovered.
"It's me." More shuffling and a figure leaned into the flickering light.
As soon as he saw her violet eyes, he staggered forward. "Blue!" She met him halfway and caught him under the arms, lowering him to the floor until they were kneeling face to face.
"Are you all right?" he asked, squinting and fumbling to hold her in enough light to see her. "Did they hurt you?"
She was dirty and bruised, but he didn't see any blood staining her skin or hair. "I'll be okay," she said, running her hands lightly over him as if feeling for injuries.
"Answer me, Deliah." He needed to hear her say it. Needed to hear that they hadn't done the horrible things he'd imagined in the dark. "Did they hurt you?"
He realized that he was clutching her too tight and eased his grip, but she didn't pull away. Instead, she cupped his cheek in her palm with one hand and smoothed his hair with the other. "Only what you see," she answered. "Promise."
Before he could ask more questions, she wrapped her arms around him, burying her head in his shoulder. Her skin was cold and she was shaking. Zeltron skin was supposed to be warm and he rubbed his hands over her back, trying to generate heat. She tightened her embrace and he knew her tremors weren't about being cold.
She pulled away finally, sitting back on her heels, and inspected his wounds with gentle, probing fingers. "What did they do to you?"
"Nothing too bad." He wasn't in the mood to talk about his time with the droid. Instead, he sat back against the wall and pulled Deliah with him. He'd meant for her to sit beside him, but instead she scooted forward with her knees on either side of his legs and sat on his lap, straddling him. She always got clingy when she was upset and he shifted so that she'd be more comfortable.
"Have you eaten?" she asked, settling against him.
The silver bands in his hair jingled softly when he shook his head 'no.' Food had been offered for cooperation, of course, but he'd refused. Without asking, he knew Deliah had refused, too.
"What did you tell them?" she asked, her voice muffled against his shoulder.
He shrugged. "The truth. I - we - don't know anything."
"If you did know where Cade was -" She pulled back so she could see him. "Would you have told them?" she asked, her face expressionless.
It was a fair question. Cade had been his best friend since they were barely-grown boys and he owed him his life more times than he could count. Yeah, he was mad that Cade had never told him about being a Jedi. He was mad that Cade had jumped ship with his Jedi friends. And he was mad that he and Blue were in an Imp prison getting roughed up about it.
But it was hard times. Ever since the Sith had taken over, being marked as a Jedi was a death mark and Jariah didn't want his friend to die. Not really.
"No." He met her gaze squarely. "Would you?"
She didn't even hesitate. "Of course not."
Of course not.
Deliah was Cade's girl. She was crazy about him. Always had been. Sometimes, Syn couldn't believe the things she put up with from him, but she did. It wasn't like she couldn't do better. She was the best mechanic he'd ever seen and she'd had offers from other captains. Lots of them, with better ships and better crews. She could do better, but he was glad she hadn't. Her joining their crew was the best thing that had ever happened to him and Cade.
"He'll come back," he said quietly. "He always does."
She tensed and her mouth twisted like she'd eaten something sour. "Who says I want him to?"
Blue had been devastated that morning when she'd woken up alone on Bastion. She'd managed to keep her composure and thank Fel politely when he'd doled out the reward money for bringing his daughter back, but the following days with a furious Zeltron had not been fun. She'd cooled a little by the time they made it to Rav's, but then Calixte had shown up and here they were in an Imp cell.
He'd known she was still moody about Cade, but the anger in her eyes now startled him. "You don't mean that," he said.
"I do!" she protested, leaning down against his chest again.
"Cade could come back tomorrow and you'd be his girl again." He wasn't trying to be mean. It was just a fact. And they could only be so lucky for Cade to suddenly show up and get them out of this hellhole.
"I don't care right now." Her voice was less forceful this time. Resigned. "I'm tired, Jariah. He left me. I would've understood if he wanted some time alone, but the sleemo didn't even try to explain or say goodbye. He just left us."
Syn heard the hurt in her words now and he fingered her hair, stroking it gently.
"Maybe Cade was right," she said, and her breath was warm against his shoulder. "Maybe he's better off alone. Or we're better off without him."
He didn't want to believe it, but he couldn't say for sure that she was wrong. So he didn't say anything and just kept running his fingers through her hair. She pressed in closer and tugged up his shirt in the back to slide her hands along his skin. That was her thing: skin to skin contact. The worse she felt, the more she wanted it. Mirroring her touch, he caressed the bare skin along the small of her back.
This was as far as it ever went with him and Blue. He'd hold her and they'd touch for a while, and then she'd recover and move on. He enjoyed it - what warm-blooded man wouldn't? - but he took it for what it was - just her thing. Besides, it felt good.
He'd closed his eyes in the warm darkness and was almost asleep when he felt her lips press against his.
He jerked in surprise and hit his head on the wall, but she didn't stop. Clutching her hands around his head and sinking her fingers into his hair, she kissed him deeply with a heat that turned into something like desperation.
Her skin wasn't cold anymore. In fact, it was hot and smelled vaguely of some exotic spice. Disentangling his hands from her hair, he ran them slowly down her back to rest at her waist where he pulled her hips as close as he could get her.
She broke away, panting.
"I'm not him," Syn gasped.
Her wet lips shone even in the dark. "No, you're not."
For whatever kriffed-up reason, he felt obligated to state the obvious. "I'm not Cade."
"I know who you are, Jariah," she breathed, kissing him again - not as hard or as long, but with purpose. "I need you." Another kiss. "I want this." And another. "I want you."
That was all she had to say. His gut had gone warm from the inside out and it was his turn to tremble.
Tomorrow be damned. Tonight, she was his girl.
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She was asleep on top of him when the door hissed open. He hadn't wanted her to sleep on the hard floor, so he lay on his back with her body draped over his and her head resting on his chest.
"Deliah!" he whispered sharply. "We got company. Wake up."
She jumped, sitting up quickly and slid off him. He scrambled to help her stand with one hand while adjusting his clothes with the other.
It wasn't stormtroopers this time, but black-robed Sith. The two who entered first were fully cloaked while a third - their leader, by the looks of her - followed. She was tall and thin and had her hair pulled into a tail on top of her head.
Deliah backed against the wall and Syn took a step to stand in front of her, his arm held out protectively.
Moff Calixte and a small contingent of stormtroopers came through the door last.
"These are Skywalker's companions?" the tall Sith asked no one in particular.
Calixte stepped forward. "Yes, Lady Maladi."
The light in the room wasn't much brighter with the door open, but Calixte's expression left no room for doubt. She was angry.
Maladi glanced in the Moff's direction and smiled thinly. "Lord Krayt was most displeased that you did not disclose your newest acquisitions to him. However, he is willing to pardon the error in exchange for your cooperation."
Calixte gave a stiff nod and said nothing, pursing her lips as tight as Syn had ever seen them.
The Sith motioned her flunkies forward. "They will be taken to my laboratory. You may or may not want them back when I'm done."
Syn stopped listening and turned to Deliah. Her face was a blank mask of hate but he could see fear in her eyes. He reached for her. "It'll be okay."
Taking in a ragged breath as the Sith approached, she squeezed his hand tight.
-end-