The evening sky was bathed in vibrant oranges and faint pinks and purples. Ships and speeders zoomed above the densely packed streets, while skyscrapers reached for the sky as far as the eye could see. Coruscant was the capital of the galaxy, as some would say. It's the city that never sleeps, the planet that never rests.
A boy ran through the crowd, pushing and shoving when necessary. His dark hair was disheveled in front of his matching brown eyes, narrowed in determination. He wore a simple white shirt torn in several places and a worn out pair of black pants. Aside from a few colorful curses in various languages, no one paid him any mind.
Boots screeched against the cold hard ground as he skidded to a stop. Eyes as cold and unforgiving as Hoth pierced into his soul. Darkness radiated from the man, an aura of evil penetrated and surrounded his very being.
"S-Shrike..." the whisper barely escaped the young boy's lips.
"Han. You thought you had escaped me, didn't you?" his voice was cold as ice.
Hands reached frantically for the blaster at his hips. It wasn't there.
Shrike laughed, "Looking for this?" he held up said weapon.
Han went for the comlink in a pouch on his belt...when he looked back up for a second, he found himself staring down the barrel of a blaster.
"And now, Solo," he spit the last part out like venom, "you will die."
For the first time in his life, Han Solo was genuinely and truly scared.
Shrike put his finger on the trigger. He was just about to pull, when...BAM! A hair fist sent him flying into the wall, a resounding crack! that could only have been his spine was heard upon impact. The one thing Han noticed, however, was relieving yet horrible just the same. The captain wasn't getting up.
"Chewie!" the Corellian shouted with glee, grinning at his best friend/guardian.
'You need to be more careful, cub' the smile on Chewbacca's face was hard to miss, it was friendly but also relieved he had made it in time.
Han's face turned bright red in embarrassment at the nickname, "I'm 15, Chewie..." he whined.
This only earned another smile from the Wookiee. He and his young charge walked back to the busy streets, disappearing into the sights and sounds of the Coruscant nightlife. They were such an odd pair, a Wookiee and a Corellian, a mostly calm adult warrior and a hotshot teenage plot. But no matter how different they were, they worked so well together. And they would continue to do so until the end of time and beyond.