(I did this story like three years ago, and just found it on my laptop which... well... I haven't used for about three years. In fact, if my home comp hadn't died, I probably would have neglected my laptop for longer still _ Anyway, I decided I'd post this since it's just been sitting on my laptop getting old. Yeah... it is old, so Canderous' personality is probably out of wack and ditto with Bastila's. And no, I'm not a Carth hater, or a Bastila hater, really, it's just Swift is my Revan who leans towards evil... so this suits her x] Also I've read it so many times that I'm just tired of it so I haven't spell checked it or anything - sorry about that.)
He'd never wanted it. Never looked for it. But now he'd found it and he would fight to keep it. A woman.
She was rather plain, actually, with short, scruffy locks in a variety of brown shades. Two blue pools with fiery centers, a dainty nose and full lips. Swift, they called her, for she despised her own true name and refused to be known as "Revan."
And so, Swift was what they called her, for swift she was. When she moved, it was as if the world had come to a standstill. She didn't run, she practically flew on those long limbs of hers, and every step was like a dance.
Even if her name was Swift, Revan was who he knew her as. She had led men and women alike into battle against the Mandalorians, and against all expectations... she had won. In doing so, without even realizing it, she had won the Mandalorian trust, and in this case, the Mandalorian love.
Canderous had been lucky enough to be left alone with her whilst the others went in search of supplies, but like always, he refused to go to her, and instead, waited for her to seek him out.
He sat in the Cargo Hold, alone, drinking Juma and basically just relaxing. His pools were closed as he listened to the not so distant hum of the hyperdrive. It was soothing in a way, but not as soothing as the gentle sound of light footsteps approaching.
She stepped into the Cargo Hold and eyed the room in search of the Mandalorian. She soon spotted him sitting there, leaning against the ship wall with a glass in one hand. With a quick smile, she approached him.
"Need some company, mate?"
The words echoed through him like fire melting ice. If only it was that easy...
"It's a semi free galaxy." He muttered in reply, opening his eyes casually to look at her as she settled herself beside him. He handed over the half empty bottle that had been hidden in his other hand and gave a nod. "If your hoping to get drunk, think again. This stuff is worse than Rodian whiskey, and weaker than a jedi home-brew."
Swift took a sniff of the bottle and crinkled her nose. He loved it when she did that... so much so that he'd forgotten she hated Juma. "Ick!" Swift shook her head and handed the bottle back without taking so much as a sip. "You must be desperate to be drinking that stuff, Candy." She teased, and the chuckle that followed was like a melody to him. He gave a disgruntled sneer and set the bottle down while half heartedly staring at his glass.
"What do you expect? The last of the good stuff went the other night." He shrugged his blades and looked back at her, watching her lips curve into a smile as she spoke.
"Ah. Another drinking contest between you, the old man and the grand piano, aye?" She joked and turned her smile his way. His reply came in the form of a quick nod.
Swift gave him a friendly slap on the thigh before getting up. "Well, I have a few good bottles stashed away. I think bordom classes as enough of an emergancy to drink 'em." She chuckled and placed her hands on her hips as she watched him. "Care to join me, Candy?"
Gods he hated being called that, but for her, well, he'd allow it, even if it did dent his honor and ego somewhat. He gave a considerably long glance to the glass he held in hand. With a smirk, he tossed it aside and got to his feet to follow her. As she turned away from him with a smile, he followed, still smirking.
"I'll drink you under the table, Revan."
"And probably hit your head on the way down."
"You lose again, muscles."
Swift stuck her tongue out at the man sitting a short distance from her. The cards scattered across the bed as he stood up whilst giving a growl. His words were slurred as he spoke, as the alcohol he'd consumed was really getting to him. The two empty bottles on the side proved they had both had their fair share of liquor that eve.
"You... ugh, stuff it. I can still... top you in battle, woman." Canderous gave a side smirk before scooping up the cards that had tumbled to the ground and chucked them onto the bed for her to shuffle.
Swift gave a slurred chuckle and shuffled the cards with some difficulty before just throwing them down in a huff. "Argh, forgetsh it... the numbez all look's the same now..." She gave a laugh and fell so her back was resting on the ship window. Even as she laughed drunkanly, she watched the Mandalorian, who managed to keep his balance even drunk as he was. "You... ya really think you ca- can top me insh battle, does ya?" She tapped her foot lightly, and he knew that she was not kidding in this matter.
Canderous laughed almost cruely before shaking his head. "No, Revan. I can't beat you."
"Darn right." Came her reply and she pulled herself to her feet, stumbling slightly as she tried to take a step forward. She grunted as she almost fell, but instead, her belly collided with the arm he put out to stop her from falling face down.
"Easy, Revan" A smirk lit his lips, and he pushed her upright again. She clung to his arm to stop her from falling backwards. Swift gave a somewhat slurry chuckle, but spoke.
"They say Mandie's are great fight'a's. What else ya good at, Candy?" She chuckled still. Canderous let go of her and she fell backwards onto the bed, scattering the cards about as she did so. He smirked slightly, and spoke;
"Let me show you."
Canderous woke up to a throbbing pain in his head and a numb arm. He shifted his weight with a groan, trying to figure out what had happened, and squinting his eyes against the ship lights which hadn't been turned off the night before. As he attempted to sit up, he discovered it would be quite impossible, as his arm was wrapped firmly around someones waist, and that someone was laying at his side, palm resting on his bare chest.
He took a sharp breath, trying to figure it all out while staring at the palm on his chest. The fact that his chest and the persons arm were bare and clothless made him feel sicker still, but thankfully the blanket hid below his waistline, so he couldn't faint at the realization he was indeed nude. He couldn't bring himself to look at the person beside him, but he did notice the scattered cards and the empty bottles. The memories of the previous night came flooding back...
Only then did he risk a glance at the person, praying it would be her. Gods, he had wanted her, but not while he was drunk or off his rocket. He loved that ex-jedi, sith, whatever she'd been, he loved her. As a warrior, as a leader, even as a woman. He had no idea what to do, what it would change between them...
It looked like he wouldn't have to worry about that though.
As Canderous' gaze followed the slim palm, then the pale arm right to the shoulder, he realized it wasn't Revan at his side. Oh no, it definatly wasn't Revan. His jaw dropped as he realized that Bastila was lieing naked at his side. The prissy little girl who wanted every thing done her way. His heart froze in his chest and he growled at himself.
"What the--?"
"Having fun, Canderous?" Swift's voice cut the silence and he looked over at her, leaning against the door frame, a mug of coffee in her hands. She was dressed and looked well, even happy.
Canderous growled and yanked his arm away from Bastila, before sitting up. He rubbed his limbs in an attempt to get the feeling back. "What happened?" He asked with a growl.
Swift smirked. "Well, the crew stopped off at a cantina, and Bastila got a bit... drunk. You were already passed out, so we chucked her in bed with you... I just came in to see if you wanted some strong coffee to cure that hangover, and I found you like this. So, I ask again, having fun?" She smiled cheerfully.
Canderous wanted to kill her.
"You did this!" He growled, and without a thought, he jumped from under the covers and strode towards her, forgetting his nude state completly.
Swift quirked an eyebrow in interest. "Oh? You that desperate for coffee?" She chuckled.
Canderous growled as she held the mug out for him and he shoved her hand aside. The mug clattered to the floor, shattering as it hit and coffee spilled everywhere. Canderous didn't notice, and he grabbed her, forcing her up against his body.
Swift looked surprised, but definatly amused. "Oh, wow, not desperate for coffee then. Didn't Bastila do her job well enough?" She joked and gave a smug laugh.
Canderous growled and gritted his teeth as he spoke. "I don't know if she did or not, but I don't want her. I didn't want her. I want you, Revan." The Mandalorian growled again and refused to release her.
Swift seemed amused and gave him a playful growl. "Heard the old saying, 'work for what you want'?" She smirked and gave him a very convincing wink. Her smirk dropped as she realized the Mandalorian was not going to let her go; in fact, he seemed determained to keep her forced as close to him as possible. She stared up into his graying blue eyes, watching carefully as he dropped his lips to touch hers, but before they could meet, a scream broke the silence.
Bastila had woken up, and she did not look impressed.
Canderous sighed and dropped his arms reluctantly. He sidestepped Swift to grab his clothing, but didn't seem at all concerned about the jedi's scream.
Bastila was clutching the blanket around her, and staring at Revan and Canderous. "What - is - going - on?!" She managed to splutter.
"Well..." Swift began innocently, trying to come up with a convincing story. Having nothing, she decided to just blurt the truth. "You and Canderous spent the night together." For some reason, it hurt her to realize that, even though she found it deliriously funny.
Canderous growled. "Under protest!" He spat as he yanked his pants on.
Bastila's jaw hung open. "What?! But I would never--!" She started to say, but Swift cut her off.
"We all do crazy things when we're drunk." The ex-jedi shrugged.
Bastila blinked in clear surprise. "Drunk? I-- Oh my god... the cantina... Oh my god!" She slammed a hand over her mouth as she realized what Revan had said was true.
"Hey, it isn't all bad. At least it wasn't Carth, right?" Swift laughed cheerfully even as the words left her mouth.
"I- oh- how could this... no- it... oh my god!" Bastila stuttered with words for several moments before finally just shutting her yap and glancing at the Mandalorian, who was now clothed up to his waist and had his shirt slung over one shoulder as he linked his belt up.
"Don't let it get to your head, wench. I didn't exactly ask for this to happen either. And if you so much as think of mentioning this to anyone I will slaughter you." Canderous growled at Bastila, his eyes narrowed. He soon looked at Swift and gave an equally harsh growl. "And I will get you, Revan. Your going to regret this." He snarled before exiting the dorm and stalking off down the hall.
Swift gave a cheerful smirk as he threatened her, and glanced over her shoulder as his footsteps echoed down the hall. She gave a wolf-whistle, and a slight chuckle before looking back at Bastila. "Oh don't look so surprised, Bastila. You got with the hunk of the ship after all." Swift chuckled and soon knelt down to scoop up the remains of the coffee cup, and to give Bastila some privacy to get up and dressed.
Bastila said nothing, not commenting at all on being threatened, or the whistle, or even what Swift had said about 'the hunk of the ship'. She soon got up, clinging the blanket around her, and tried to dress without letting it fall at all, but it turned out a difficult thing to pull off, so she gave up. She risked a glance at Swift, who was still cheerfully cleaning up the remains of the broken mug, and soon dropped the blanket to yank on her clothes.
Once dressed, Bastila fled the dorm at a run, her cheeks burning red and her locks in a mess. How could she have done something so stupid?
Swift turned her head to watch Bastila flee the room, and dropped all the pieces she'd picked up before dropping down and using the ship wall as a back rest. Her head hit it with a thump. "Not to mention I envy you..."
"Want to talk? It might make you feel better." Swift said quietly, whilst rubbing her forearm and watching the Mandalorian tighten some bolt or other on the swoop he stood over.
"No." Came his only reply, gruff and brash, and he didn't even bother to glance at her.
Swift wasn't about to deny it. There had been an akward silence on the ship for more than a week since the crews little prank on Bastila and Canderous. The Mandalorian wouldn't talk to anyone but HK, and even then it was just talk about blasting people, while he rubbed a blaster or tossed a grenade. Bastila was the opposite; frustraited and embarressed, she lashed out at anyone who even barely hinted at her Mandalorian experiance, and was silent the rest of the time.
Carth had a rather lovely bruise across his face for suggesting she try to 'patch things up with Canderous', which served as an example to the rest of the crew that Bastila was not in a talking mood.
Earlier in the day, the crew - besides the Mandalorian killing machine and the jedi puncher - had gathered and had a meeting to discuss what could be done. Advice and tactics had been thrown all about, suggestions about killing the two Meatbags (from HK), then suggestions about abandoning them on Nar Shadaa to work things out for themselves while fighting numerous bad guys (from Carth), or letting them play Pazaak to sort it all out (from Mission), but all of the ideas had fallen through, and in the end, they'd decided that their lovable leader should sort it out.
And so Swift was trying. The rest of the crew besides Canderous and Bastila, had cleared off to some abandoned appartment for a few nights so she could solve the dilemma of the fighting. She did not want to get within ten feet of Bastila so she'd decided to try Canderous first, but so far she'd only gotten grunts and yes or no answers; not exactly great stuff.
"So, umm, what exactly is wrong? Do you like her or something?"
"No."
Again, a one worded reply. This was getting agrivating. He dropped the bolt he'd removed and started on another.
Swift grumbled something through gritted teeth and tried a different approach. "Is this the Mandalorian way of solving problems? Ignoring them?" She growled.
"No."
She was ready to hit him now, but he actually continued...
"The Mandalorian way of solving problems like this is to kill every damn thing on board, crash the ship, burn the evidence, and pretend it never happened." He said sarcastically.
"Oh..." Now she felt like a fool with a one worded reply. "Well... we need to find some way of solving this issue!"
"Why?" He said, not looking at her.
"Why not?" Swift blinked.
"Because."
"Because why?"
"If we solve it, what will happen?"
"Umm..."
"I'll tell you what will happen." Canderous suddenly turned to her, a snarl on his face, eyes flashing like lightning. "I'd kill you all. Your the one who did this, I should kill you now!" He growled, drawing his blaster as he did so.
Swift gasped and instantly, weaponless, struck a fighting stance. "Canderous, don't!" She cried out, her voice breaking slightly as if she couldn't believe he'd pull a weapon on her. She was weaponless, unarmored, and all alone, with only a maddened Bastila to fall back on. If he killed her, that would be it.
He took a step towards her, blaster aimed between her eyes. "Why not? Your acting weak; like some fool woman who doesn't know how to protect herself." He growled.
"Canderous, please!" Swift cried in plea and took a step back.
Canderous advanced again, weapon still drawn and ready and his teeth now gritted. "You deserve to die, Revan..." His hand trembled slightly as if he was fighting to urge to pull the trigger. "I'm not a joking man... I don't like pranks like this." His weapon lowered just slightly, his lips parting as if he wanted to add something to his little speech, but he never got the chance.
It was her one chance! In an instant she spun on the spot and threw her leg into the air to knock the blaster from his grip. His hand was thrown sideways, the blaster fiering upon the impact, but the shot only struck the closest wall, even as the weapon clattered to the floor.
"Now we're even!" Swift growled as she backed away. Both weaponless, both defenceless...
That didn't stop Canderous, and he lashed out to grab her. Swift was already backed against a wall, and so she had no room to fight off his attack. He managed to grab her, and hold her... then he just kept holding her. His arms forced around her, refusing to release her, his head bent to her own as he whispered something in the Mandalorian lingo, his eyes closed as if he was regretting ever pulling a weapon on her.
Swift was stunned. To go from hostility to such restraint in one blow was almost... frightening. But she liked it. "Candy?"
Her calm voice struck him like a whip would have, and he opened his eyes to meet her gaze. "Don't expect me to say I'm sorry. I don't roll that way." He tried to growl but he just didn't have the will.
Swift gave a smile, her eyes lighting up, and she almost seemed to purr. "I have a way for you to apologise without you having to say a word..." She broke free from his grasp and took his hand to pull him down the corridor, towards the dorm where it had all started.
Canderous sighed in content, lieing tangled amidst the blankets, a hand resting comfortably behind his head, the darkness of the dorm overwhelming him, letting him fall into a peaceful state of mind. And she, his beauty, his leader, his woman, lay atop him, staring down into his hard grey pools which somehow seemed so soft when watching her.
"Am I forgiven?" She asked quietly, playing a hand over the bare muscles of his chest.
Canderous seemed to consider it for a time, just relaxing to the feel of her hand upon his flesh, but soon gave an appreciative growl and a curt nod. "Yes. You're forgiven for getting me drunk." He said cautiously, hiding his smirk.
Swift had been admiring his muscles, but yanked her gaze up as he said that. "Just for getting you drunk?"
"Mm, your going to have to work a lot harder for me to forgive you for the rest of it, Revan... Think you can do that?" His smirked played through.
Swifts only reply was her lips descending upon his own; but that was more than enough for him.
Bastila sat alone in the opposite dorm, hugging her knees to her chest and staring at the closest wall. She was lifeless, and so ashamed. A jedi was supposed to have control, but she'd lost it and given into anger and temptation. She couldn't leave the dorm now; they were all laughing at her, she knew it!
When the door flashed open, Bastila merely glanced it, before returning her gaze to the wall.
It was Canderous and Swift. The Mandalorian had only come as backup, should Bastila try to hurt his woman. He gave a slight growl, and paused slightly within the doorway.
Swift stepped towards Bastila. "Bast? Can we talk? Please?" She asked quietly.
Bastila shook her head. "Come to mock me some more? And whats he here for?" She spat.
Canderous growled and reached for his blaster which was now back in its normal place.
Swift threw a hand up to stop her Mandalorian from taking action. "Canderous, please leave. Bastila and I need to discuss this."
"But Revan--"Canderous began to protest.
"Please?" She cut him off.
With a sigh, Canderous gave a nod and turned from the room. His footsteps faded after a short way, signalling he had not left completely, just ventured out of ear shot, which was good enough for Swift.
She turned back to Bastila. "Now he's gone, so can we talk?"
"No." The jedi replied.
"Your as stubborn as he was." Swift sighed and ran a hand through her hair.
"Bastila, what happened, has past. No one cares about it, no ones' going to mock you. We just want Bastila back; our friend, our companion, our jedi advisor." Swift smiled slightly and knelt down by Bastila.
"You don't honestly mean that." Bastila sighed and turned her gaze away.
"Yes I do. The whole crew wants you back; we're all worried about you!" Swift replied and placed a hand on Bastila's shoulder. "Please?" That seemed to work on Canderous, so she thought she'd try it on Bastila too.
Bastila turned her gaze to Swift, and soon tossed her hands up in a huff. "They may say they've forgotten it, but they never will! I never will! How can I? I'm a jedi; I am not supposed to become emotionally involved!" She sighed and dropped her gaze to the floor.
Swift blinked and went silent for a time, thinking over her words carefully. She soon replied. "Bastila, you stumbled. You turned to liquor to help you unwind, and we took advantage of the situation; it's not your fault. You did not choose for this to happen... we did it. If anyone is to blame, it's the Revan in me." Swift stated calmly.
Bastila looked at Swift silently for a time, and soon spoke. "You think so?"
"I know so." Swift smiled.
For some time they sat and talked like that, with Swift just trying to comfort Bastila, assuring her she wasn't to blame, and no one would ever speak of it again. Finally, Swift got to her feet and turned to leave the jedi in peace.
Bastila spoke quietly, one last time. "Revan... Did you mean what you said? About 'getting with the hunk of the ship'?" She quirked an eyebrow as she spoke.
Swift smirked in reply.
"Every word."