Title: Come What May
Rating: For Mature Audiences Pairings: Canderous/LSF!Revan
Warnings: Graphic torture, violence, sexual content
Summary: Before and after the Leviathan, there is tension. But at least afterwards, everything suddently makes more sense than when they started.
Notes: Rafsa is Revan
Bastila was not happy. And when Bastila wasn't happy, she did her level best to make sure that no one else was happy. It was an unfortunate and annoying trait that Rafsa had learned to accept, if not like, in her Jedi companion. But it still had a tendency to rear its head at inappropriate moments.
Like when she was trying to get some make out time in with a certain Mandalorian warrior. It was the perfect time for it too! Everyone else on the ship was doing their own thing at this time of day, and for once no one was screaming their heads off for Rafsa to come help them with something, or in many cases listen to them talk. It seemed like everyone on the ship had some sort of tragic past, Rafsa thought huffily, wondering if it was some sort of novelty to have someone normal on the ship. And she knew she didn't count either. A woman, in her thirties, taken in for training by the Jedi Council? If the fact that her memories were scattered and hazy at best wasn't enough, that definately made her the wierdest person on the ship. Either way, while everyone else was busy, Rafsa was cuddled up to Canderous in the hangar, totally intent on getting some while everyone else was distracted.
And then there was Bastila. She came in like a hurricane, rage written in every iota of her expression. Canderous had ignored her too, at first. He was very, very occupied with a certain pair of soft lips and a soft, curved body pressed against his own. At this point, a herd of raging Boma could have stampeded through the 'Hawk, and he probably wouldn't have noticed. And at first, it seemed that Rafsa was going to ignore her too. Perhaps she hoped that in the dark corner of the hangar, pinned between a shadowed wall and the hard, warm body pressed against hers, Bastila would somehow miss them. Or at least get the hint, through their Bond, that Rafsa was not in the mood to be interrupted.
"Padawan Rafsa, may I speak with you a moment?" Bastila hissed out through clenched teeth, dark eyes sparkling with a rage that refused to be quieted.
Rafsa ignored her for a few more moments, taking in one last tasty, deep kiss with her lover before she broke from his thin lips with a regretful sigh. Canderous' low, possessive growl of lust was almost enough to make her kiss him again, but she reached up and blocked her own lips with her finger over his, leaning back with an annoyed glint in her inky black eyes. Canderous grimaced, and wordlessly released her from her pinned position against the wall. The look he shot Bastila at the moment would have melted carbon steel, but she seemed distinctly unimpressed Mandalorian"s glare. Rafsa straightened her garments, that were quite ruffled at this point, leaning up with her hands against her warrior's chest and on her toes to place a relatively chaste kiss on his lips, hoping it would appease him at least a little until they got back to the business at hand. Then, she turned away, walking towards Bastila with carefully controlled anger in her motions. Every movement was fluid and economical, her body built like a gymnast. Canderous could not help the appraising look he lavished on her body as she walked away, his steel gray eyes focused on the swaying backside in front of him. Bastila glared at him over Rafsa's shoulder, and he smirked at her arrogantly.
Either way, he really needed to get some doors installed in this room. These interruptions were not exactly welcomed.
Rafsa and Bastila left the room without saying a word to each other, walking next to each other in perfect unison. Rafsa noticed this almost imediently, a frown coming on her pretty, dark face. She forced herself to break her stride on purpose, making Bastila frown at her nastily. It was petty, but it made Rafsa feel at least a little better. Then, the other Jedi stopped near the computer room, turning harshly to the older Jedi and poking her finger into her breastbone like a scolding mother, or the prelude to a bar fight.
"What are you thinking!? Have the Jedi Council and all your training taught you nothing about being a Jedi? Sleeping with the Mandalorian?" Bastila hissed to her, trying to keep her voice quiet but failing miserably. The rest of the crew attempted to stay as far away from the confrontation as possible, even Canderous. Well, he was currently eyeing some scrap pieces of metal and seeing if he could jerryrig a door, but that was beside the point.
If Rafsa was annoyed before, she was angry now. The Jedi was even a bit shorter than Bastila's medium height, but the look of fury on her face made her seem taller. Darker. Bastila hesitated in her anger, a flickering of fear flashing over her features. Rafsa didn't seem to notice, gritting her teeth and trying to come up with a polite way to tell Bastila where to shove it.
Bleh, screw polite.
"All my training? You mean all three months of it? You people didn't bother training me at all! And don't you dare bring up Canderous in this conversation. I didn't even want to be a Jedi in the first place! But no, you and your precious council had to bully me into it, and bully me into saving this miserable galaxy! Carth is right, Bastila, this whole business stinks." Rafsa hissed to her, pushing a hand into Bastila's shoulder in a mimicry of the other Jedi's fingers against her chest. The anger in her throat was distinctly un-Jedilike, but Rafsa couldn't bring herself to care in the slightest.
She was tired of being a Jedi. She was tired of being the savior of the universe. She was tired of being the one to solve all their problems, tired of never having a fracking moment to herself and never being able to do a single thing without the involvement of everyone else on the ship. She was tired of having to hide Canderous from the Council and the other Jedi, and she was tired of being made to feel ashamed of something that made her feel so damn good, the only thing that did in the entire galaxy right now. She was just... Rafsa was just so tired of all of this.
Bastila stared at her in shock for several moments, and for once Rafsa made no attempt to hide anything that she was feeling from their bond. Rafsa's shoulders slumped in hopelessness, running a hand through her thick, dark hair. Bastila softened, enough that even Rafsa took notice, but didn't say a word. All she wanted to do was go back to the hanger, crawl into their bedding, and pretend the world didn't exist. Rafsa wanted to cry.
But she didn't. Because leaders didn't cry, and especially not about being tired like some sort of small child. But the way Bastila was looking at her, it didn't seem quite as silly as it was before. The other Jedi slowly brought a hand to her face, cupping it gently in one hand.
"Rafsa, I..."
Just then, a huge tremor rocked the ship violently, throwing Rafsa right off her feet and flinging her against one of the metal walls of the Ebon Hawk with a pained yelp. Bastila was lucky enough to grab one of the bolted down tables before she was thrown across the room like Rafsa was. As soon as the tremors stopped, Juhani knelt by Rafsa's side, her cat-like face curled into a worried expression. If the Cathar had had a tail, Rafsa thought wearily, it would be puffed out.
"Rafsa, are you alright?"
"Yeah, Juhani, I'm fine. What in the Maw was that?" Rafsa yelled up to the cockpit, looking irritated and in pain. The woman experimentally twisted her back, feeling no more than soreness where her back hit the wall. She didn't heal it yet, though. Rafsa had a bad feeling that she was going to need her healing powers a lot more later.
"You guys had better come see this!" Carth's voice, at first, seemed casual, but there was an undercurrent of tension that Rafsa identified as being a very bad thing. She strode towards the cockpit, Bastila and Juhani trailing behind her. Almost unnoticed, Jolee emerged from his room down the hall and joined the little group. Zalbaar immediently left to go check on Mission in the cargo hold.
A few minutes earlier, the blue Twi'lek had snuck into the hanger, staring at the Mandalorian who was working on something at the workbench. She snuck in with a grin, her stealth generator turning on to full power. The hilt of a knife was sticking out of Canderous' left boot, and she was going to get it if it was the last thing she did. So close, just a few inches away. Lean forward...
Canderous grabbed her thin wrist with an amused chuckle, looking back over his shoulder at the teenager. Mission's stealth generator turned off with a click, showing her sheepish grin.
"I almost got it that time." She whined, standing up to sit on the workbench in front of him. Mission grinned, swinging her legs from the table.
"Not in your dreams, girl. Don't you have something better to do than hanging around an old Mandalorian? People might talk." He teased, leaning back in his chair and grinning as well. Mission was a good kid, mature for her age. Well, mature occasionally. For a man like Canderous, in his Clan he was always surrounded by children. Besides, Mission was one of the few people he had met that hadn't cared he was Mandalorian. She was really too young to, but it still did a lot to relieve his loneliness. He was fine with Jolee, too. But Juhani, when she wasn't scowling at him was ignoring him, and Carth and Bastila? Bah, he shouldn't even think of them. Only one person's opinion mattered, and that was Rafsa's.
And they were hiding something from her. Canderous didn't know what, or why, but they were. Canderous felt a frown take over his features, and a growl in his throat. They were manipulating her, the Jedi and Bastila, to some sort of destiny that they had predetermined. He wasn't the only one who thought that. Jolee and he had had a discussion about it several days ago, and the old former Jedi had let Canderous in on a few secrets. Though the Council overall was a wise and benevolent creature, they also had a tendancy to use people. They thought of the overall good, not the wellbeing of one individual. It was one of the many things that had caused Jolee to leave the order in the first place. Canderous had left that talk wondering. And he was going to find out what Bastila was hiding if it killed him.
His mind was pulled back to the present by Mission, who let out a deep dramatic sigh typical of teenagers everywhere (even the Mandalorian ones). He grinned, crossing his arms over his massive chest and mimicing her. Mission glared, and stuck out her tongue.
"I'd rather hang out with you than Bastila. I mean, really! 'Mission do this, Mission do that'. At the beginning, she was kind of cool, but now all she thinks about is trying to bully Rafsa into doing what she wants to do. It's annoying." Mission frowned and played with one of her lekku idly, her lips formed in a pout.
"Yeah, I know. But it wouldn't hurt for you to try to be nice to her, if only for Rafsa's sake." Canderous said sternly. Mission thought as a side thought that Canderous would probably make a great dad. "And besides that, you and I both know you can't bully Rafsa into doing anything she doesn't want to do."
A fond smile broke out over Canderous' face, transforming the lean, hard lines into something else. Mission thought he looked a lot more handsome when he smiled, and didn't scowl. She grinned, leaning forward and wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.
"I suppose you would know, you sick pervert." Mission said playfully, Canderous rolled his eyes at her, but he couldn't seem to wipe the grin off his face.
"Little girls should mind their own business." He said casually.
"Hey! Dont' call me a- Omph!"
The Ebon Hawk shook like a Basilisk coming into a planet's atmosphere, tossing him out of his chair like a ragdoll. Mission yelped and clinged to him, throwing the Mandalorian off for a second before he grabbed a stationary pole, a protective arm around his young charge. A piece of shrapnel came flying across the hangar, and immediently, with instincts born of years of war, turned Mission away from it and towards his body. The piece of metal embedded itself into his arm and he grunted, refusing to show any more pain than that. Eventually, the ship stopped shaking and Canderous took a deep breath, letting go of Mission and reaching over his shoulder with his opposite arm and pulling the metal out with a grunt and a spray of blood. Mission stared, and looked a little pale.
"You're hurt!"
"I'll be fine. Come on, we should head to the bridge."
In the cockpit, there was a silence so profound that Canderous nearly thought it a physical barrier. His shoulder was still bleeding sluggishly, but his implant was healing the damage from the tissue up. He stood behind Rafsa, so close that her back was touching his chest. Blindly, he felt her small hand grope for his, and allowed her to grab it with a white knuckled grip.
"Well, it looks like we're all thoroughly screwed. Anyone have a suggestion on how to get out of this situation?" Jolee asked conversationally, a hand on his worn out lightsabre. The others were conspicuously silent.
In the viewing panels on the Ebon Hawk, nearly all that could be seen was filled up with the pale gray of another ship, and the pale green light that Rafsa recognized as a tractor beam. The beam was so strong that the Ebon Hawk, built for speed, was still trembling slightly to its deepest foundations. It was probably only the quick work of T3 that kept the shuttle from trembling apart at its seams. Carth's hands, she noticed, were tight on the controls of the ship, his jaw clenched in rage.
"We don't. That's the Leviathan, Darth Malak's flagship." Carth said woodenly, as everyone turned to stare at him. His brown eyes practically blazed with rage. "Saul's on that ship."
Bastila stared at him, and then her face went pale and she stared to break out in a cold sweat. She stood behind Carth, staring at the big ship with the closest thing to terror that Rafsa had ever seen on her face. Rafsa instinctively pressed back into the warmth of the big Mandalorian's chest, taking comfort in his steady heartbeat. In turn, she streamed that comfort to Bastila, hoping to at least calm some of her nerves.
"There's got to be a way!" Bastila said frantically, "we can't get captured by them."
"There's no other way!" Carth growled at her, and pried his hands off the controls with a grunt.
"I could help with this." Juhani suggested quietly, causing everyone to turn their attention to her. She shifted nervously, but her body attempted to be calm and serene. She'd like to see the Council be serene in a case like this, Juhani thought nastily, but she shoved it back down as soon as it sprang up. "I am the best at stealth here. I could hide on the ship, and then sneak out to rescue you."
"Are you sure you can do it, Juhani? You'll probably have to fight your way through who knows how many droids and Sith troops." Carth said warningly. Canderous didn't say a word, and wasn't planning to.
"Well, whatever it is, we'd better do it quick. They've almost got us." Jolee said casually, as if this was just one more planet they needed to visit. Everyone turned their gaze to Rafsa, who was staring out the window thoughtfully.
"I don't see how we have much choice." Rafsa said, "Ok, that'll work. We're counting on you, Juhani."
"I'll get everyone out, Rafsa. I promise."
Very soon afterwards, Canderous thought that it had been a horrible idea. They had all been stripped of their weapons and cuffed, then herded into this little holding cell like a herd of cattle. Most of them had been stripped down to the absolute necessities, and Canderous could feel the flesh on his bare chest goose bump with the cold. In the opposite cell, HK and T3 were motionless and lifeless, restrained by ion neutralizing collars. Canderous didn't know how Rafsa convinced HK to go along with this, and wasn't sure he wanted to.
Mission sat huddled to Zalbaar's side, the wookie restrained by more cuffs than the rest of the crew combined. His wrists were cuffed and attached to the wall, along with his legs being tied together and a collar hooking him to the wall by a chain that was only a few inches long. Canderous didn't pity the men that did that once Zalbaar got free.
"When do you think Juhani will come for us? This place is creepy." Mission whispered quietly. Jolee grinned in response.
"I suppose I could tell you younglings some stories to pass the time..."
"No!" Mission exclaimed suddenly, then silenced once a guard walked past the cell. He leaned down to peer at the prisoners, a grin coming up over his features, until Canderous stood and walked over to the front of the cell, staring at the man like a father catching his son pulling wings off of a fly. The Sith soldier paled at that gray gaze, and hurried off on his shift. Canderous settled back with a growl, preparing for a very cold, and very uncomfortable few hours.
He just hoped Rafsa would be ok, but she would. He knew that she would. She had to, she was far too strong to let anything Malak and Saul do to her break her. Canderous' thin lips broke into a smile at the thought, and allowed himself to relax and daydream of how things could have been.
What Canderous couldn't have known was that Rafsa was currently in a Force cage, thinking the same thing. She could be with Canderous somewhere, maybe being a mercenary or a fighter. But no, she had to become a mock-Jedi and save the world. She was bored, and her companions weren't much help.
Bastila's fear had already overridden what little came through the bond normally, and she stood pale and tall and sweaty. Her eyes darted from side to side nervously, and Rafsa could slowly feel her losing control over her emotions. She attempted to sooth Bastila through their link, but she wouldn't listen. Rafsa sighed, and turned her dark eyes to Carth instead.
He wasn't doing much better. Carth was just staring at the door, as if willing for Saul to come in this second so he could rip his throat out with his teeth. Opposed to Bastila's fear, Carth was nothing less than furious. It looked like he really wanted to kill something.
Rafsa, on the other hand, tried to comfort herself that Juhani would at least get the rest of the crew to safety, before anything happened to them. Canderous would probably end up leading them. Despite his time on Taris, the man was a born and bred leader. Even if no one wanted to listen to him, Canderous had that aura that made people want to follow him, even if they didn't like him. Rafsa would be the first to admit that Canderous could be prickly at best to even those he liked. A lot like her, actually.
Rafsa didn't really like being a leader. She enjoyed things a lot more if she was with an equal, someone that didn't just want to follow her lead like an obedient dog. Canderous may have been a lot fo things, but he was by no means a dog. If he thought she was making a bad decision, he would, and indeed had, make his thoughts known on the subject. It was one of the many things that Rafsa valued in the Mandalorian, and one of the things that had made her fall in love with him in the first place...
The doors swished open with a mechanical sound, a tall, pepper haired man walking in with his hands clasped behind his back like he was inspecting his troops. In his day, Rafsa thought, he was probably considered handsome, but his time with the Sith had done nothing to help his looks. Even though everything else was that of a sterm military man, Rafsa could see sickness in his eyes. Whatever Saul Karath was before now, it was long gone. All that was left was rage and bloodlust.
"Saul." Carth said coldly and crisply as a winter's day. Saul's stern mouth curled up in a smile.
"Now, now, Carth, is that any way to talk to your commanding officer? Really, I expected much better behavior of you." Carth snarled and fought against the Force cage, wanting nothing more than to rip out Saul's organs, one by one. The general's eyes turned to Bastila, his grin widening even more.
"And what two pretty little Jedi you brought with you, too. Really, Carth, what would your wife think of this?"
Rafsa stepped into the conversation before Carth killed himself trying to get to Saul, frowning with irritation. What was Saul, a schoolyard bully?
"Leave him alone. What are you doing here, Saul? What do you want from us?"
Saul smirked, stroking his chin with one hand. He walked over casually to a small controller pressed against the wall. Rafsa hadn't noticed really, her dark eyes intently on his face.
"What do we want? Well, Master Malak wants Bastila, and he'll have her. He'll probably be down to inspect his prize in a few minutes. Personally, I want Carth dead and from you?" Saul's smile grew. "We want information."
"I'm not telling you a thing, Saul." Rafsa snarled at him, testing her bonds even though they were on far too tightly to even soften, let alone break. For a moment, she found it odd that she was the only one bound out of the three of them, but she soon forgot. Whatever Saul had been, now he was like a mad dog. Nothing more than Malak's lackey, or slave. It was just like him to take such a strong man and reduce him to this. How Rafsa knew this, she didn't have the slightest idea. Nor did she really care at the moment.
"You may, you may not. But I'm certainly not going to deny myself the fun of trying. We know that there's a Jedi base in this sector, we just don't know where it is. But you're going to tell us."
"No."
"Fine, fine. Have it your way, then." Saul seemed pleased that Rafsa had decided to take the long way around, and pressed a button. Rafsa gasped as Carth was enveloped in blue energy, lighting that was just enough to make him suffer, but not enough to kill him. Carth screamed frantically until the lighting was cut off.
"What about now, pretty Jedi?"
"Don't tell him anything." Carth forced out from between clenched teeth, his limbs numb with the pain. "You hear me, Rafsa? No matter what he does, don't tell him anything." His brown eyes darted to Bastila, as she stared with horror and terror. Rafsa could more feel than see Bastila slowly withdrawing into herself, away from all of this. And she knew that was the way Carth would have wanted it.
"You heard the man. No."
"Fine then. More fun for me."
The torture went on for what seemed like hours. Tears streamed down Rafsa's cheeks, but her face showed no sign of grief. Carth screamed himself hoarse, begged, pleaded, cried for Rafsa to do something, anything to make the pain stop. He couldn't even tell Saul himself, too overwhelmed by the incredible pain to do anything but cry. It was the hardest thing Rafsa had ever done, to hear him beg for a release from pain and being unable to grant it. Her dark eyes focused on Saul, a dark fury in them that had nothing to do with being a Jedi.
She wasn't only going to kill Saul, she was going to break him. She'd have him begging at her feet for anything ot make her stop, and she was going to enjoy every second of it. Her lips curled up in a nasty parody of a smile, making even Saul take a step back. Despite the tears, despite the pain at her companion's distress, she was utterly terrifying. Saul grinned like the mad dog he was. Now, to set the final few nails in the mock-Jedi's coffin.
Bastila stared at her with a silent expression of begging. Rafsa barely looked at her, but then her gaze caught Carth's body and she nearly crumbled. He was laying there on the floor of his force cage, curled up into as small a ball as possible, and crying like a broken hearted child. To see such a capable, responsible soldier reduced to this made her blood boil in rage. It wasn't the dark side that caused her to act like this, but the horror she had just seen had allowed her this.
"I guess she's not going to talk. Pity. Go get one of her other companions from the holding cell, maybe they'll be more inclined to talk." Saul smirked at the look of rage that he got from the fake Jedi, a hand stroking lovingly over some of the tools set out on the table.
"I'm going to kill you Saul."
"That's a pity, dear."
In the holding cell, Canderous came to sudden wakefulness when someone walked up to their cell, his cool gray eyes daring the soldiers to make a move. The rest seemed nervous, but one stood unperturbed by the Mandalorian's stare. His blue-eyed gaze wandered over each member in detail, before his eyes finally settled on the little blue Twi'lek. He pointed, and ordered the men.
"That one."
Mission stared for a moment, then glared at them with more fire than Canderous would have given her credit for. Zalbaar growled a slow, deep warning in his throat, making the soldiers pause. Their commander stared in disgust, shaking his head at his men.
"Corellian tits, boys, they're all tied up. They can't hurt you. Just go in and get the girl."
As soon as the first guard came in, Canderous growled and slammed into him like a raging bear, forcing the man to the ground and digging his knee into the soldier's throat. Even with his hands tied behind his back, he turned to shoulder a new guard aside, choking the life out of the one from under him. The comander stared, head tilted to the side curiously.
"I changed my mind. That one."
As formidable as the Mandalorian was, Jolee knew, he wasn't going to be able to take on all those people. But the old Jedi also knew that Canderous wasn't planning on it. All he had wanted was to provide a distraction. Better him than Mission. They had heard the screaming from the detention room, after all. The companions were silent as the guards dragged the Mandalorian from the cell, forgetting about the Twi'lek entirely. Canderous' gray eyes caught Jolee's for a moment, before a guard hit him harshly across the face and brought a feral grin to those thin lips.
Canderous fought like a tiger, though he was bound by his hands. They should have bound his legs as well, though, and he was going to give them a very good lesson why. He used his shoulders to slam the guards into the metal walls on either side, and used his legs to trip them up and use his larger body mass against them. As they dragged him to the chamber where the rest of their companions were being held, Canderous left a wake of bloody and groaning bodies behind him. Leave it to the Mandalorian to leave such a high injury count, Jolee thought idly.
Rafsa could have prepared herself for anything, but this was the thing that nearly broke her. Canderous' gray eyes blazed with a fury that made even Rafsa take a step back, though she knew that Canderous would never do anything to hurt her. Her dark eyes caught his steely ones with a moment that seemed to last for hours. His name died on her lips, as his furious eyes filled her with newfound conviction.
Never surrender, never regret, and never give up. Rafsa knew at that moment they had picked a very poor candidate to be tortured. She would no more answer their questions than she would knaw off her own leg, not when it was Canderous. She would never, never do anything to dissapoint those gray eyes.
Saul had not missed the exchange between the two of them, another sadistic smirk forming over his features. His fingers ghosted over a serrated blade sitting on the table. Only the finest for the admiral, his troops knew. One harsh blow to the gut and Canderous was kneeling, his breath knocked out of him by the blow. They tied him up with practiced efficiency to a chain from the ceiling, and left the room. Canderous was breathing heavily, but the whole time he kept his eyes locked on Rafsa's black ones.
Don't look at the rest, they said, look at me, look at these eyes. Don't look away, don't look ahead. Just here.
And she didn't. Not even when Saul dug the tip of that serrated knife into his shoulder, peeling back his skin to expose his flesh. Canderous didn't so much as scream, body tensing and keeping his gaze locked on hers.
She had beautiful eyes, he noticed. They were so deep a black that you could barely see her pupil in the center, and framed by such long and thick lashes that made her look even more dusky. It wasn't just her eyes, though. There was such fire there, such passion that it made his loins ache just to look at her. And those glorious eyes were focused on him, so focused that all Canderous wanted was to go to her. He did not allow her eyes to look to what Saul was doing to him, because he didn't want to acknoledge it himself.
What he was doing was a classic torture resistance technique, anyway. Pick an object, a thing and then concentrate all your attention on it. In this case, it was her eyes. Canderous didn't want her to look, not at his body, just at him.
His back ached like he was getting stripped of his hide like a carcass. Which made sense, because it was. Eventually, though, it had to stop. Canderous could feel the blood drip from his back and down his flanks, but he didn't really feel it. The intercom bleeped suddently, and Saul rose from his position and placed the bloody fileying knife on the table.
"Yes, Lord Malak?"
"Come here, Saul. Leave your amusements, we have something to discuss."
"As you wish."
Saul turned off the intercom, and turned to admire his work. And then he turned his eyes to Rafsa, and for one moment was stricken by a sudden terror that made him want to run out of the airlock. Her rage was nearly palatable on his tongue. Saul shook it off and approached with a smirk, standing just a few inches from the force cage.
"Well, that's just too bad, my sweetness. I suppose we'll just have to continue later. Well, at least you didn't tell where the Conclave was."
Rafsa's dark gaze followed him to the door, the rage still burning quite passionately in her eyes.
"Well, at least I would ask, if we didn't already know where it is. Dantooine, I imagine, is just a big steaming pile of rubble about now. Well, I suppose I'll have to think of a new question, hm?"
Bastila whimpered from the Force cage, her eyes locked on the bleeding Mandalorian. Carth let out a groan of despair, one that Rafsa quickly cut off.
"Don't worry, Juhani will be here soon. We'll get out of here, I promise."
The atmosphere back at the holding cell wasn't much better than the one in the detention room. No one spoke, but occasionally their eyes darted out to the hallway. Mission fidgited in the corner, a look building up in her expression.
"Why isn't anyone saying anything? Why isn't he screaming? Why did he have to do that! It should be me in there, not him." Mission hid her face in her hands, shaking with silent rage. No one said anything, but what was there to say? Jolee shook his head, knowing his explanation wouldn't really do much. Talks about how Canderous was much better built to deal with that kind of punishment, and that it would be better for Rafsa's sake as well if it was him and not her, probably wouldn't help at all. His dark eyes darted to the outside cell, noticing the tell-tale signs of someone in stealth. The slight shimmering of the air, for example.
"Looks like Juhani's here."
The door was opened, and Juhani shimmered and then stood there, holding the keys to the prison in one hand. She crept in and started to undo Mission's hands first, so she could help, before she would go over and release the droids. Mission looked frantic, grabbing onto the Jedi's robes with a desperate intensity.
"We've got to go rescue Canderous and the others!"
Juhani stared at her, and then looked around and noticed for the first time that the Mandalorian was missing. Her face tightened in confusion, finally getting the wookie released and undoing the rest of their bonds.
"Where is the Mandalorian butcher? He should be here with you. Has he betrayed us?"
They stared at her in silence, Juhani's pointed ears going backwards with confusion. Mission glared at her, and then snuck across to release the droids, attempting to reign in her temper. It wasn't Juhani's fault, she told herself, but it didn't seem to help. It wasn't fair, but they didn't have time to debate right and wrong.
"Canderous got taken to the detention room, to be tortured most likely. We'd better go fetch him, Rafsa and the others." Jolee, released, rubbed his wrists and looked carefully out, seeing no new guards at the moment. Mission released the restraining collar on T3 first, smiling at the appreciative boop the droid gave her. She whispered a quiet 'your welcome' to him before going to HK. He came back online with his bright red optics lighting up in anger, his head turning to and fro and searching for enemies.
"Curious statement: Have we been 'rescued', small blue one? If so, I would dearly love to go save the Master and get off this forsaken bucket of rust."
"It's good to have you back, HK." Mission grinned, and looked out with the droids behind her. Juhani silently motioned them to a small doorway next to the cell, indicating all their weapons and armor was in there. As they went off to gather their items, she continued to the detention cell.
What Juhani saw next was enough to make an experienced soldier pale. Canderous hung there from a chain like a side of beef, long strips of skin cut from his back. He lifted one gray eye to her, now weary in his pain. Rafsa's gaze lit up, and even Bastila looked happier.
"About time you go there! I think the button to shut off the Force chambers is over there. Just don't press the blue button." Carth instructed with his voice still sore from his screaming earlier. Juhani did so without a word. Bastila went to Carth's Force cage, hovering over him like some sort of protective parent as he stood. He smiled at her, and she smiled back, though it was not as confident as she would have wished. Rafsa had left the cage and knelt infront of Canderous, looking helpless with her wrists in bonds like this. He grinned at her anyway, and she rested her forhead against his. Juhani undid her bonds, finally allowing Rafsa to shake some feeling back into her hands.
Canderous groaned in relief as her hands touched his back, healing the wounded flesh there like the touch from an angel. Rafsa winced, surveying the damage. She couldn't replace the skin that Saul had fileyed off, and the deep strips in his back would likely be permenantly scarred. As she was doing that, Carth got up and stumbled to his Mandalorian friend, undoing the chain around his wrists and letting him dropped with an exhausted sound into Rafsa's arms. She held him close for several moments, but knew that she really didn't have the time to spare.
"Come, we must leave now." Juhani approached, and rested one hand on Rafsa's shoulder. Rafsa's dark eyes were covered by a long lock of hair, but Juhani could feel the rage radiating from her form. Bastila answered for the both of them, her gaze stern. She had chased away her terror, for the moment, and now she just didn't want to run anymore.
"No, we're going after Malak once and for all. Take Canderous and Carth, and get to the ship. Rafsa and I will take care of this." Bastila said calmly, as T3 rolled in with hardware and armor draped over his form. She took her lightsabre and her robes with a smile, and started to dress.
"No way, you're not leaving without me!" Carth struggled to his feet, getting his own orange jacket on and picking up his blasters. Bastila glared at him, hands on her broad hips sternly.
"No way, Carth Onasi. You're going to go with the others and back on the Ebon Hawk. You'll only slow us down!"
Canderous stood up very slowly, one foot after the other. He was incredibly careful with how he stood, not betraying any sign of weakness but not feeling all that great either. Rafsa stood with him, next to him. She did not lend her support, but she was there if he absolutely needed it. Canderous could appreciate the gesture.
"I'm coming too." He muttered quietly, and Rafsa stared at him.
"No, you're not. Carth, get ready to go. We're going to need your help." Carth grinned and nodded, but he watched the coming confrontation anyway. He expected Canderous to growl and argue with her, but he just paused before he nodded. Carth stared in shock, but shook his head and got back to business. They were running out of time.
Canderous stared for a moment into those gorgeous black eyes, and understood what she was trying to say. 'The crew needs you', they said to him. And she was right. As powerful as the Jedi were, they were used to working alone. Someone needed to be there to bring them together, and as much as Juhani may not like it, Canderous was it.
"Be careful." He whispered to her, pressing a quick kiss against her lips before achingly pulling on his vest over his head. Rafsa nodded, and grabbed her Blaster Rifle and her armor. In just a few moments, Carth, Bastila, and Rafsa were gone, and Canderous looked at Juhani and T3.
"Well, time to get to work."
A few hours later, they were back in space, but minus one essential member of their team. Canderous leaned against the wall quietly, watching the other members of the crew. Carth had come back on the ship and announced that he had something to say to the rest of them, and Canderous didn't think it'd be good. The rest of the crew stood in a semi-circle in the center of the ship, nervous in their movements. Now that the danger was, relatively, past, now was the time to be relieved. Not that relief was the name of the game right now. Rafsa walked into the main quarters, sinking into one of the chairs and putting her face in her hands. Canderous approached her then, standing behind her with a proprietory hand on her shoulder. He marvelled at how small it was, but then again, Rafsa was a very small person. Her small hand left her face and found the top of his, as he looked up at Carth's entrance.
Republic looked like crap. The dark circles under his eyes made him look like a zombie, and his brown eyes looked at Rafsa accusingly. Canderous bristled at the look, challanging the pilot's gaze with his gray eyes. Carth looked away, running his hands through his greasy hair that badly needed a turn in the fresher.
"What's this all about, Carth? Where's Bastila?" Mission asked quietly, holding a cup of steaming tea in her hands. This mission had probably hit her the hardest of all of them. Her pale blue eyes kept locking onto Canderous, but he would talk to her about it later. His back still ached, the scars stiff as opposed to his skin. But at least he was alive. Saul could have taken out his eyes or his balls, and then where would he be? Blind and without a girlfriend. He wouldn't necessarily say it like that to the fourteen year old girl, but he'd find a way somehow.
"Bastila was taken trying to help us get away." Rafsa whispered brokenly, going over her horrible decision in her head and trying to figure out where she had gone wrong. If she had just left when they got the chance, after killing Saul and disabling the controls on the ship, Bastila would still be with them and not in the hands of that monster. Stupid, stupid decision. And Canderous agreed, to some extent, but sometimes leaders made the wrong decisions. He squeezed her shoulder gently, resisting the urge to just scoop her up and drag her away from everyone else, and make her sleep for a week. Barely.
"Rafsa, are you going to tell them, or should I? What Malak and Saul said on that ship?" Carth started out conversationally, looking to almost be taking a vicious glee in what he was forcing her to do. Jolee shook his head sadly, eyes locked on the Republic pilot.
"Hurting Rafsa isn't going to bring her back, Carth." The old Jedi murmured quietly, but was heard by all. Carth glared at him with ferverous weariness in his eyes, pacing the deck before them.
"I'll tell them, Carth. And I'm sorry." Rafsa whispered softly, and even Carth stopped to look at her. She lifted her head, dark eyes filled with such a tiredness that was almost palatable to the rest of the crew. There was a tense silence that made Canderous badly want to punch something. He frowned, staring at her.
"I'm Revan."
If Canderous thought the silence before was deafening, this was even worse. Juhani and Jolee's faces were carefully blank, considering the new information quietly. Carth, instead of looking triumphant, just looked as tired as the rest of them. He slumped into one of the chairs. Even HK didnt' say anything, which was an act of the Force to the rest of them.
But when Canderous thought about it, it made sense. How quickly that Rafsa had mastered her Jedi powers, Bastila's reluctance to talk about it, and all the skills that Rafsa was so good at. Even though her lightsabre skills were less-than-stellar, her mastery of Force powers was impressive even to veteran Jedi. But even though she was Revan, Canderous couldn't think of her like that. Revan and Rafsa were two different people, if their actions were anything to go by. Maybe Revan had been like Rafsa before she changed, but either way it didn't seem to matter much.
"... How do you know, Rafsa?" Jolee asked gently, stroking his fingers over his gotee. Rafsa took a deep breath, keeping her hand on her Mandalorian's.
"It makes sense. My visions, my powers, how I know where the Star Maps are even when I've never been there before. It all fits. I just wish it wasn't true." She murmured softly, her gaze locked on the table infront of her. Carth sighed, and sat down stiffly as well.
"I don't." Canderous said finally. Everyone turned their heads to look at him. He shrugged casually, squeezing her shoulder gently. She looked up at him curiously, but let him say his piece.
"If she wasn't Revan, she would have never gotten us this far. Malak wouldn't be shaking in his boots, and he'd still be off galavanting across the galaxy without a care. Now, he has something to be afraid of. Besides, she's not Revan, not really." Rafsa frowned, and tilted her head to the side.
"What do you mean?" She asked softly. He smiled.
"You aren't who you were before. You're Rafsa. You saved us from Taris, you rescued me from the life of dishonor I was leading. You rescue everyone that requests your assistance. It's just the way you are, and I wouldn't change you for the universe." Mission, despite the actions of the day, made a disgusted face and shook her head vigoriously, thinking that she was going to have to burn this scene from her head. Jolee smiled encouragingly, thinking that maybe the children were finally getting somewhere.
Juhani looked at them, and finally realized that she didn't have a chance with Rafsa. And that it was for the best, because as a Jedi, Juhani's first love would be the Order. With Canderous, his love would always be for Rafsa, and not what she might represent to the world. And finally, Juhani smiled.
A few hours later, Canderous and Revan slipped from the group's quiet companionship and to their hangar, Canderous' arm around her waist and her body pressed against her side. Everything was ok, as ok as it could be. At least between what remained of the crew. And now, they just wanted to be alone with each other. It was a common goal, and not one that many members on the Ebon Hawk would meet tonight.
When Canderous pulled off his shirt, Rafsa's eyes were inevitably drawn to his back. It looked like someone had taken a hot iron and burned long strips of his skin down his back clean off, leaving angered, reddened looking scar tissue. She approached him on silent, bare feet, reaching up to ghost her fingertips over the newly healed scars. He smiled, and turned his body to gather her into his arms, leaning down to press his thin lips against hers. After the day they just had, they both needed it.
She deepened the kiss without a word, reaching up to wrap her slender arms around his neck and press her body closer to him. He smelled like leather and metal and aftershave, along with that musky undertone that said that he was male. They both moved back to the bedding tucked away into the corner of the hangar, clothes being shed as they went.
And when Canderous finally had her around him, inside him, and against him, he looked into her deep black eyes and realized that it wasn't what she was that mattered, it was what she would become. And no matter what she would become, he would always be next to her, inside her, with her.
And then he kissed her, and everything suddenly made sense.